"This doesn't sound good at all.

The Mets announced yesterday that they will play two men short for at least another day and could end up playing the rest of the season without first baseman Carlos Delgado.

General manager Omar Minaya delivered this double whammy on the injury front: Delgado has a multitude of potentially career-ending problems in his ailing right hip, and set-up man J.J. Putz has developed a bone spur in his pitching elbow. It doesn't look promising, but the Mets now plan to wait until Sunday before making a decision on Delgado and what seems to be an inevitable trip to the disabled list -- and possibly could lead to the end of the 36-year-old's career.

Minaya said team doctors have determined that Delgado has an impingement in his right hip, a small bone spur in the hip and a partial tear of an unspecified area of the hip.

A hip impingement is a lack of space between the neck of the hip socket and its rim; it causes them to jam together when the hip is flexed. That can lead to labrum damage, as well as degenerative arthritis.

Minaya said the arthritis, which potentially could end Delgado's career, is something the GM has "heard" when talking to the team's medical staff about his first baseman's hip.

Minaya also did not rule out surgery for Delgado, who has battled hip problems the past two seasons and hasn't played since last Sunday against the Pirates.

Delgado made the trip here for a four-game series with the Giants that started last night, but did not sound optimistic he could avoid the DL or even surgery.

"I wish I could tell you that I felt a little bit better today, but it's about the same," Delgado said. "If it doesn't get better, we're going to have to visit other options."

Delgado is receiving what he described as "mobilization therapy" in which his leg is pulled in an effort to create more space in the hip socket.

Minaya said he wants to see how Delgado responds over the next three days before making a call on the DL. "