HOUSTON - While the result wasn’t totally Joba rules, the New York Yankees may have found one of the starting pitchers they so desperately need to have a shot at continuing their lengthy playoff run.

For the Houston Astros, a team whose one trip to the World Series is blown away by the Yanks’ hurricane-force 200 million titles, the story continues to be what might have been.

Both teams are mired near the .500 mark, where teams in June can hope for a sudden surge to playoff status - which the Astros and Yankees have both done in recent years.

“We need to string together some wins,” said Derek Jeter, after the New York shortstop’s opposite-field homer in the top of the eighth inning Friday night gave the Yankees a 2-1 victory.

Instead of going with the tried but not-so-true method of getting a member of the team’s board of directors to head investigations against pretty much every team but yours, the Yanks and Astros will need more consistent pitching to pull off that string. The step started for New York with Joba Chamberlain, the oh-what-a-reliever during the Yankees’ stretch run late last season whose zero tolerance was ended only by a bug-induced loss to Cleveland in the playoffs.

Now, Chamberlain says, it is a matter of talking to his veterans to learn how to pitch as a starter in the major leagues and continuing to execute his pitches.

Chamberlain may have been given a great opportunity to learn a very important lesson on his first pitch of interleague play, a fastball drilled long and hard to deep left-centerfield by the Astros’ Hunter Pence. Despite the roar of the sellout crowd, Yankees center fielder Melky Cabrera tracked it down on a dead run for the first out.

The young fireballer looked a little less in command during his first major league at-bat to start the third inning, striking out on a curve from former Yankee Shawn Chacon, who only allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings.

But the fortune that seems to happen for winners kept Chamberlain out of trouble until he was pinch hit for in the top of the seventh inning with two runners on for the Yankees and the game tied at 1-1.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi noted that Chamberlain went six strong innings in his third major league start.

No Steinbrenners were around to ask about Joba’s transition from late reliever to designated savior, but Girardi saw plenty that he liked.

“If his spot doesn’t come up he’s going out for seven (inning),” Girardi said.

Of Chamberlain’s first 30 pitches, 22 were strikes.

After that his game showed much of the promise that he holds, but left Houston fans wondering what might have been had one of their best players been left holding the bag.

The fourth inning Joba unraveled a bit, with the Astros scoring a run when Carlos Lee lumbered around from second on a hit to left that Hideki Matsui mishandled. The bases were later loaded on an intentional walk to .400-hitting catcher Brad Ausmus, and the National League game paid off for Chamberlain as Chacon flew out to right. There was an added benefit earlier in the inning of catching Lance Berkman trying to steal third after the All-Star first baseman had stolen his career-high 11th base of the season to take second.

Chamberlain showed his inexperience bunting as well, laying down a forceout at second of Jorge Posada with two strikes after first putting down a pretty fair foul ball bunt and then a weak attempt at a curveball on the second offering.

The Yankee youngster came back strong in the bottom of the fifth, striking out Pence badly after the Astros outfielder had stung him hard twice (although neither fell in for hits) in earlier at-bats.

The problem the Yankees face is that although Chamberlain can make quality starts, there is a huge void in his former role as the setup man for the best closer ever, Mariano Rivera.

Jose Veras filled the Yankees setup role admirably in the series opener, going two innings with no runners and three strikeouts.

If you ask a Yankees fan what’s a Farnsworth, the answer before Friday would be nothing if you have a one-run lead. However, even going to Kyle Farnsworth for his first save since Sep-tember 2006 worked for Girardi Friday.

While the Yankees need pitching to keep it close for their billion-dollar lineup, what the Astros can do to win their first World Series for owner Drayton McLane of Temple is not as apparent. Prayers from Temple’s Gene Pemberton, who serves as Astros team chaplain, seemed to help during their World Series run.

One common denominator for success for both teams is left-handed pitcher Andy Pettitte. Houston Chronicle columnist Richard Justice pointed out Saturday, the Astros are 18 games under .500 since Pettitte left and were 40 games over .500 during Pettitte’s three seasons with Houston.

But in a land where pitchers once roamed the plains and oil was plentiful and cheap, hurlers have gone the way of the buffalo and the wolf - found only rarely in preserves and extinct from domed stadiums.

There is something in the gut that doesn’t love an enclosed stadium, but the retractable roof does keep some of the Houston heat out and for that reason at least must be tolerated.

From the free seats, it looks like as long as a team has throwback fans who emulate the Cub bleacher bums and toss away perfectly good souvenirs when opponents hit home runs, there will be no joy in Humidityville.