A freak calf injury has likely sidelined 40-year-old El Duque for the playoffs.

El Duque latest loss to depleted Mets pitching staff

Also in this column:
• Marlins do inevitable: fire Girardi
• Angels GM Stoneman feeling heat
• More news and notes

You can cross another star off the list of the historically star-crossed Mets' diminishing list of playoff participants. While the Mets tried to retain a semblance of hope until the very last minute that Orlando "El Duque'' Hernandez could make a miracle comeback even after he was spied limping out of a hospital yesterday, he was officially scratched this morning for rookie John Maine and has been left off of the Mets' Division Series roster.

With the announcement that Maine will start Game 1 in Queens today against the Dodgers, the charmed portion of the Mets' rare charmed season is officially over. (Maine, 6-5 with a 3.60 ERA, was chosen over Tom Glavine because Glavine's "in rotation,'' having pitched last Friday.)

The Mets' roster of casualties is expanding rapidly, and their one noticeably thin area -- the rotation -- is at its weakest at exactly the time it needs to be strongest. For those scoring at home, the Mets' list of killer pitching injuries has now hit five: Duaner Sanchez, Brian Bannister, Victor Zambrano, Pedro Martinez and Hernandez.

While those in the Mets organization take a notoriously sunny public view of these things -- let's not forget that Martinez supposedly went into the same hospital with a calf injury and came out with a torn rotator cuff -- despair was written all over the faces of the players moments after Hernandez, who himself was a replacement starter, hobbled away with his own calf injury after running in the outfield during batting practice on Tuesday. Word spread quickly throughout the clubhouse about the direness of the situation, and the players had to know their tag as favorites in the National League was just about out the window.

"It's not going to be easy,'' closer Billy Wagner said.

"I think we've got our hands full,'' outfielder Cliff Floyd said. "We have to go with what we've got.''

Pretty soon all the Mets players starting talking in unison about what a strong lineup and bullpen they have. They will have to carry the club now, not an impossibility. Shawn Green pointed out that the 2002 Angels won the World Series with their great bullpen and lineup, and some of the champion Reds teams used a similar formula.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya has built a terrific and deep team, with the one question from the very beginning revolving around the starting staff, and especially how sturdy and deep it was. Today, with Martinez out and Hernandez almost surely out, it looks especially brittle and thin.

Martinez was always a worthwhile high-cost gamble, and Hernandez a superb low-cost gamble. Though Hernandez's MRI revealed a calf problem, he was still a great pickup, acquired for inconsistent reliever Jorge Julio, whom they didn't believe in. Minaya outvoted some on his staff who couldn't get past Hernandez's 6.11 ERA in Arizona because he knew Hernandez was made for New York and the playoffs, if only he could hold up. He also understood that Hernandez had a habit of getting hurt. With Hernandez being 68 (OK, 40 according to the media guide), there was always a risk he could break down.

Minaya is a well-known risk taker, and he should be a shoo-in for NL Executive of the Year after batting about .900 this year. Nobody questioned it at the time, but the one conservative call they might think about now was the decision not to trade ballyhooed prospect Lastings Milledge for A's ace Barry Zito (the A's wanted Milledge plus Aaron Heilman at the time), especially after Zito beat Johan Santana on Tuesday and Milledge didn't even make the playoff roster after annoying teammates with his cocky attitude.

Now some might even question the Martinez deal (and the Red Sox, beleaguered lately, made the right call for them there). But not Mets people. While only St. Louis also offered Martinez four years, and while one competing GM said the word on the free agent was that he had a "75 percent tear'' in his labrum, Mets people still view the signing for four years and $53 million as the start of a stark turnaround.

"To me, when you're in the free-agent market of pitchers, there's always a risk of injury,'' Minaya said. "But he meant so much to our plan. If we don't sign Pedro Martinez, we're not playing today.''

They're playing today and tomorrow. But the question now is, how long will they keep playing?

Steve Trachsel, who won 15 games with support and mirrors, was supposed to be returning Tuesday from an undisclosed family emergency but was said to be unprepared to start today. Maine, who's only here because the Mets felt they needed to dump Mrs. Kris Benson, has looked better than anyone figured and becomes an integral part of the plan now.

"He's going to be nervous. But he's the type of guy who can relax,'' Wagner said of Maine. "The game hasn't changed, just the hype around it.''

Maybe the game hasn't changed, but it just got a little harder for the Mets.

Around the majors

• It was hard to tell which came first, Joe Girardi's firing or Fredi Gonzalez's hiring. On his way into his final meeting as a Marlin, Girardi got to read in the papers how Gonzalez had an interview scheduled the same day. Not right.

• The Gonzalez hiring by Florida did, however, bring back up the number of minority managers after the rapid-fire firings of Frank Robinson, Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou. "There's not a shortage of Latin American or African-American candidates in the pool who are able to do the job,'' said Minaya, who's one of only two minority GMs, along with Ken Williams of the White Sox. Besides Gonzalez, Minaya mentioned Joey Cora, Manny Acta, Jerry Manuel, Ron Washington, Terry Pendleton and Carlos Tosca as worthy managerial candidates.

• There is growing pressure on Angels GM Bill Stoneman, who's held many of the Angels' vaunted but so far unproductive prospects way too long. Owner Arte Moreno is said to have "read him the riot act'' for failing to enhance the team's chances to make the playoffs at the deadline, according to one person in the know.

• Mariners right-hander Gil Meche is an interesting free agent. "He has No. 2 stuff, but he blows up,'' one scout said. "You never know which guy is going to show up.''

• Kenny Lofton has never won a ring, but he has an enviable record of playing in the postseason. He is in the playoffs for the 10th time in 12 seasons, with six teams. Even the two times he missed, he didn't miss by much. He missed only with the 2000 Indians (who lost the wild card to Seattle by one game) and the '05 Phillies (missed by six games).

• Ned Colletti, the former p.r. director who's done a nice job in his first year as Dodgers GM, should be heartened to know that Fred Claire, also a former p.r. man, won the World Series the first year he was Dodgers GM, in 1988.

• Tigers manager Jim Leyland has done a superb job, but the Tigers put such an emphasis on winning one of their final three games against the Royals that when they didn't do it, it had to hurt their confidence. While the Dodgers started a pitcher in the finale who isn't on their postseason roster and put no emphasis on winning the last game with the division still undecided, the Tigers used No. 1 starter Kenny Rogers in extra innings in hopes of finally beating the Royals and uncorking 220 bottles of champagne. Alas, they remain uncorked. Then after trying hard and failing to beat K.C., they have to look at that sick Yankees' lineup. Well, I guess that's why they wanted to beat the Royals so bad.

• If Alex Rodriguez isn't the best No. 6 hitter in big-league history, Robinson Cano has to be the best No. 9 hitter.