Texas hits three homers to rout Mets

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Everything about Friday night's game screamed danger for the Mets. Mike Pelfrey, a pitcher susceptible to the long ball, against a Rangers team that has hit more home runs than anyone but the Yankees.

As interleague matchups go, this was not a favorable one for the visiting Mets, and Adrian Beltre's two-run homer off Pelfrey in the first inning set the tone for the Rangers' 8-1 rout at Rangers Ballpark.

Beltre, Michael Young and Josh Hamilton went deep for the Rangers, who took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Texas starter Matt Harrison (6-6) didn't allow a Met to reach scoring position until Ronny Paulino's leadoff double in the fifth inning.

"You got to be careful," Terry Collins said. "You give up six runs on two-run homers, it's tough for us to catch up in those circumstances. In this park, you got to make pitches. You got to really work. The multiple-run homers are tough to deal with, especially when we don't hit the ball out of the ballpark very much."

Pelfrey (4-6) gave up eight hits and four runs in six innings to suffer his third loss in four decisions. Young and Hamilton hit two-run homers off Manny Acosta as the Mets began this pivotal road trip through Texas and Detroit in lackluster fashion.

Pelfrey had surrendered 13 home runs before Friday -- already eclipsing his 12 for all of last season -- and he was stung by the long ball again after teeing up a flat sinker for Beltre, who snapped an 0-for-10 skid with his first homer in 13 games.

"The rate that I've been giving up home runs, anywhere we go, I have to keep the ball in the park," said Pelfrey, who dropped to 1-2 with a 4.29 ERA in three interleague starts this season. "I made some mistakes and they hit them."

As a result, Collins didn't require the services of Francisco Rodriguez, who still had a busy Friday afternoon repeating his desire to remain with the Mets. K-Rod was annoyed to have to do so in light of a story that had him eyeing the Bronx to set up for Mariano Rivera.

"I want to stay here," Rodriguez said before Friday's game. "I don't want to be traded. That part was left out. I only said that 'if' I was traded, I would set up for another team. But I don't want to go anywhere."

The trigger was his dropping the Yankees into the conversation along with mentioning the Rays. K-Rod further explained that he was talking about contending teams, and those were two examples.

The Yankees' need has become more urgent after the losses of Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano. When the subject of K-Rod was floated Friday to Yankees manager Joe Girardi, he deferred to general manager Brian Cashman.

"That's something that our front office takes care of," Girardi said. "That's something that we're told to basically be tight-lipped on because of tampering rules."

Rodriguez made sure to speak with Collins as soon as he arrived Friday.

"He did say that he wanted to stay here," Collins said, "but if he was traded, he'd like to go to a contender, which -- make no mistake about it -- that is where he would go if somebody traded for him.

The Mets dropped to six games behind Atlanta in the wild-card race (the Braves played a late game in San Diego).

"If we go 4-2 on this road trip and we stay in the hunt, I'm not sure anybody's going anywhere."

With Anthony Rieber