Astros 4, Mets 0

While a spring training meeting between Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez and New York’s Mike Pelfrey (won by the former, 11-3) might’ve presented a hint of what to expect last night, no one who has followed W-Rod’s occupation of a seat on the Round Rock shuttle would have foreseen such a dominating performance (CG, 4 hits, 9 K’s). Pelfrey only made a handful of mistakes, the mostly costly of which coming on a 2 run HR allowed to the suddenly resurgent Lance Berkman. Anthony Young was just on the phone — he’s certain Pelfrey’s gonna earn a W before the season is over.

The Post’s Michael Morrissey, recovering nicely from all those large venue cancellations, reports on a measure of discipline from skipper Phil Mushnick Willie Randolph.

When Jose Reyes stood near home plate as his dribbler up the third-base line was fielded in fair territory, the 4-0 loss to Houston became known for something more depressing and worrisome.

It was the game in which Reyes loafed, and the night manager Willie Randolph had enough.

Randolph yanked Reyes immediately after the top of the eighth, admitting he pulled his All-Star shortstop for a lack of hustle.

“Yeah, that was pretty obvious,” Randolph said. “If you can’t get out of the box and run down the line or whatever, you’re gonna sit down. That’s all. It’s unacceptable.”

Mike Lamb then exacerbated Reyes’ lack of hustle by jogging slowly to first and then tossing the ball.

“Yeah, I think the ball was going to be foul,” Reyes said. “But we still have to run. That was my fault there.
“But that thing could happen to anybody. Hopefully it [doesn’t] happen the next time.”

Presumably, Willie has no problem with sure-thing Hall Of Famer Mike Lamb showing up his superstar shortstop. Shawn Estes just offered to dust off Lamb later today at Ken Lay Memorial Field, but I’m told his services will not be required.

Houston prospect Troy Patton made an auspicious PCL debut last night, going 7 innings and allowing just one earned run on 4 hits in Round Rock’s 5-1 defeat of Omaha. Prior to the lefty’s promotion, Patton was 6-6 for Corpus Christi of the Texas League, with a 2.99 ERA and 68 K’s in 102.1 innings.

White Sox pitchers allowed 32 runs against the Twins on Friday. Granted, that was over two games, but neither Jon Garland or Gavin Floyd did anything yesterday to counter the notion Kenny Williams is quite likely to break up his club between now and July 31.