Does anyone want this job?

One would think, with a better bullpen behind you and the chance to pitch on a rotation that already includes Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, John Maine and Oliver Perez, that one would be supremely motivated to land the fifth starter's spot for the Mets.

Apparently not.

Orlando Hernandez is still coming back from injury and has a new windup and showed that he is not ready for prime time, getting hammered by the Cardinals in a 14-4 Mets loss Sunday. But Mike Pelfrey did El Duque one better (or is that worse) by pitching flat awful in relief, throwing gasoline on the fire and inflating his spring ERA to an ungodly 8.31.

Does anyone want this job?

So now the plan looks like El Duque starts the season on the DL so he can tune up some more, while Pelfrey gets the fifth spot by default, with the pressure of knowing his leash is shorter than Doug Christie's. Pelfrey has been a profound disappointment so far and you figure the Mets are looking at their overpopulated bullpen and wondering if Jorge Sosa wouldn't be better off becoming a starter again in AAA, because if Pelfrey is going to continue to suck and El Duque is going to be hurt (and he will be), they're going to need someone else ready to come up and pitch.

Otherwise, things are A-OK again as the walking wounded finally get healthy. Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro are just about back from hamstring injuries and Carlos Beltran is most of the way back -- if you want a percentage, ask him.

Opening day is just one week away. And with the way the Islanders have been playing, all we can say is Thank God.