St. Louis ? If the New York Mets reach the World Series, they might get a major boost on the mound from Orlando Hernandez.

Sidelined by a torn muscle in his right calf, El Duque threw 72 pitches during an encouraging bullpen session Sunday and could be back in time for the Fall Classic if New York gets past the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL championship series.

“It’s certainly a possibility, absolutely,” pitching coach Rick Peterson said Monday. “Felt great, no discomfort, threw the ball well, commanded his pitches well. He’s been throwing all along – very gingerly because of the leg, but he feels great.”

El Duque was scheduled to start New York’s division series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers until he hurt a calf while jogging in the outfield the day before Game 1. At that point, he was expected to miss the entire postseason.

The Mets also are without injured pitcher Pedro Martinez, so they’ve been scrambling to find reliable starters in the playoffs, and Hernandez acknowledged it has been extremely difficult to sit back and watch knowing he was unable to help.

But the right-hander, a postseason stalwart throughout his big league career, was excited and surprised by how quickly his leg has recovered.

“Now I can dance,” a cheerful El Duque said. “I threw every pitch. I think I’m ready for next week.”

The crafty Hernandez was acquired from Arizona in May and has a ton of October experience. He is 9-3 with a 2.55 earned-run average in 19 career postseason games, including 14 starts, mostly with the Yankees. He also owns four World Series rings, and his teams are 12-3 in postseason series.

So if the Mets advance to play the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, could manager Willie Randolph count on El Duque to start in Game 1?

“Willie give, I take,” Hernandez said.

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Remedial work: Before the NLCS began, Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter said he stopped throwing side sessions between starts late in the regular season to save himself for the games.

Giving up five runs in five laborious innings in Game 2 of the NLCS changed that strategy. He wanted to throw before his next outing to break some bad habits.

“I’m not going to get into big detail about it,” Carpenter said. “There was one thing I wanted to work on, and there wasn’t an extensive session.

“It was just something that I wanted to get up there and work on a little bit and I got my work in and did that.”

Carpenter struggled to throw his curveball for strikes in Game 2, blaming mechanical problems.

“I believe every time I go out there that it’s going to be there and I’m going to be able to do it,” Carpenter said. “When it doesn’t happen, you try to make adjustments pitch to pitch and hitter to hitter, and I was trying to do that all night long and I wasn’t able to do it.”

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Trachsel update: Mets right-hander Steve Trachsel, who came out of Game 3 on Saturday after getting hit by a second-inning comebacker, is among New York’s candidates to start a seventh game, if it comes to that.

Trachsel gave up five runs, five hits and five walks while getting just three outs, and he left with a bruised right thigh.

“He said his leg feels much better,” Peterson said.

Trachsel, Darren Oliver and Oliver Perez appear to be the top candidates to start Game 7. Tom Glavine, who starts Game 5 today after Monday’s rainout, could pitch in relief in a seventh game.

It would be his regular throw day.