Mike Pelfrey’s been fairly effective against the Astros today (1 earned run, 3 hits, 3 K’s, 6 IP) as the Mets are beating up on the Astros, 8-1, thru 5 1/2.  The visitors decided earlier this week that Ivan Rodriguez represented an upgrade on the existing backstop tandemo of Humberto Quintero and J.R. Towles, said transaction coming after Pudge’s solid at bats in the WBC.  Conversely, Omar Minaya ignored comments from his own ballclub about Rodriguez’s availability, instead opting to stand pat with Brian Schnieder and Ramon “An Adam Dunn-like Zest For The Game” Castro.  Get ready to see plenty (well, as much as he’s willing to up with) of the latter, Mets fans, as Schnieder suffered a PCL strain two days ago.

That great cultural arbiter Chipper Jones spoke poorly of his recent WBC creature comforts, telling the AJC, “I don’t know if you ever stayed in Toronto, but it’s not exactly Las Vegas.” Indeed, forcing this philistine to toil in a city without a Hooter’s is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment.