NEW YORK -- Orlando Hernandez insisted that he was feeling fine on Tuesday night -- as fine, at least, as a pitcher can feel after allowing eight runs in three-plus unattractive innings.

But on Wednesday, El Duque wasn't even feeling that.

Hernandez said the strained ligament in his right foot, which had originally caused him to go 10 games without a start, had regressed a bit the morning after his return.

"[There's] a little pain," El Duque said on Wednesday. "That's today. Yesterday, I didn't feel anything."

Still, Hernandez said he would continue to follow his usual routine between outings, and he's expecting to pitch in his scheduled start on Monday in Washington against the Nationals. El Duque had been the Mets' most consistent starter before his return on Tuesday, when his ERA ballooned nearly half a run.

"I'm assuming that it's probably just regular soreness," said manager Willie Randolph. "Right now, he's on his regular turn."

Castillo out: Second baseman Luis Castillo was scratched from the lineup before Wednesday's game due to ongoing trouble with his right knee. Castillo has been wearing a heavy ice wrap around his knee before games and walking with a noticeable limp, ever since missing three games with knee soreness in August.

"It looks worse than it is," Randolph said.

Castillo was unavailable for comment, though Randolph said the scratch was more of an opportunity to give his second baseman a longer spell thanks to Thursday's off-day. The Mets skipper didn't want to take any chances after Castillo was slow to pop up from a slide into second base on Tuesday.

"He's going to be like that," Randolph said. "When he tweaks it a little bit and he feels like he needs a day, we'll give it to him."

Follow through: The three doubles Jose Reyes produced on Tuesday night established a single-game career high, which equaled his extra-base-hit output of the preceding 15 games and increased his slugging percentage for the 16-game sequence to .343. His slugging percentage since July 31 is .380; before that, it was .453.

Reyes played his 40th consecutive errorless game on Tuesday, equaling his longest streak at shortstop, established last season (April 14-May 27). He played 42 consecutive games without an error in a streak that began in 2003 and ended the following season. But Reyes played second base in the final seven games.

The hitting streak Moises Alou extended to 16 games on Tuesday is the second-longest streak of his career, and the longest current streak in the big leagues. Alou hit in 23 straight games with the Astros in 2001.

No surprise here: The game against the Braves on Tuesday night was the 300th Bobby Cox has managed against the Mets, the most by 61. The Braves have won 164 of them for a .547 winning percentage.

This and that: Castillo celebrated his 32nd birthday on Wednesday. ... The Marlins claimed Mets pitcher Marcos Carvajal off waivers on Wednesday. Carvajal, 23, was 5-10 with a 5.22 ERA for Double-A Binghamton. ... Backup catcher Ramon Castro will continue his rehab from lower back arthritis with the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones on Thursday in the first game of the best-of-three New York-Penn League championship series.

This date in Mets history -- Sept. 13: After a two-run rally in the 12th inning produced a 4-2 victory in Philadelphia on this date in 1973, the Mets were 13 victories into a 14-5 run that moved them from last place, 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Cardinals on Aug. 26, to fourth place, 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Pirates. .... Three years later on Sept. 13, Tom Seaver struck out 12 in a five-hitter against the Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. The 5-0 victory was one of 20 wins the Mets produced that September. They won 86 games that season, the second most in club history at the time. The successful final month deceived the club's decision-makers. They made few changes in the offseason -- the first offseason with free agency -- and the 1977 season began with a slump that lasted seven years.

On this date in 1985, Keith Hernandez delivered a run with a single off Ken Dayley to score Mookie Wilson from second base in the ninth inning and push the Mets to a 7-6 afternoon victory against the Cardinals at Shea Stadium. The victory, their eighth in 10 games, put the Mets one game ahead of the second-place Cardinals with 20 games remaining for both teams. The Yankees defeated the first-place Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium to move within 1 1/2 games of the division lead and give New York City the sense that a Subway Series was possible -- 15 years before one happened. ... The best Mets team that didn't play in the World Series moved within two games of the first-place Braves on this date in 1999, beating the Dodgers, 10-3, in Los Angeles. Shawon Dunston drove in three runs.

Coming up: After their final off-day in the regular season on Thursday, the Mets begin a three-game home series against the Phillies with payback -- and the National League East championship -- in mind. Tom Glavine (13-6, 3.95 ERA) and Jamie Moyer (13-11, 5.23) are the starting pitchers in the 7:10 p.m. ET game at Shea on Friday.