MLB

ROCKET MISFIRE HASM’S WITHIN 1

After sliding in and out of the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI tube late yesterday, Roger Clemens attended Alex Rodriguez’s Labor Day bash at Rodriguez’s rented Rye mansion on the water he has an eye on buying if he remains a Yankee.

And while Clemens told teammates and staff members at the party he won’t know the results of the test on the right elbow until today, he was looking forward to returning as soon as possible. However, it’s likely Clemens will miss his next start.

Considering how the day went, A-Rod‘s gathering should have been held in a morgue following a lifeless 7-1 loss to the reeling Mariners in front of 54,522 at Yankee Stadium.

In addition to the defeat, there was more bad news.

Clemens left the Stadium for Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center after four lackluster innings in which he couldn’t finish his pitches for a test on a barking elbow. If the news is good, Clemens will likely miss one start. If it’s bad, an already suspect rotation beyond Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang will be the reason for a dark October.

Clemens (6-6) gave up five runs and eight hits, and the Yankees hitters turned into the Dead Bats Society against Felix Hernandez (11-7), who limited them to one run and five singles in seven frames.

And there is more disturbing news. The Mariners halted a season-high nine-game losing streak and moved to within one game of the Yankees in the wild-card chase. The Mariners are even in the loss column.

First baseman Andy Phillips, a big part of the Yankees’ second half surge that got them back into the October picture, will miss four to six weeks with a broken bone in his right wrist that will undergo surgery today.

Nice time for a party, huh?

“[Clemens] started to feel something grab in the elbow in the fourth inning,” Joe Torre said.

Clemens was battling inflammation in the hinge and blisters on the right foot going into the game.

Asked if Clemens would miss his next start (Sunday if the Yankees stay in order following Thursday’s day off), Torre said it is likely.

“My guess is yes,” said Torre, who explained the 45-year-old Clemens has dealt with a similar issue this year and bounced back to pitch well.

The Yankees have lost eight of 14 and three of four and it’s not hard to find a reason: When Pettitte or Wang don’t pitch, the Yankees rarely win. In the last nine games started by their top arms, the Yankees are 8-1. Across a 13-game stretch in which others have been given the ball, the Yankees are 3-10.

“We have to pick it up on both sides,” said Derek Jeter, who had one of the Yankees’ six hits (all singles).

Always one to find sun in a grey sky, Jeter pointed to Mike Mussina’s 32/3-inning stint replacing Clemens.

“If you can take a positive from the game, that’s it,” Jeter said of Mussina’s first-ever regular season relief outing

Mussina gave up seven hits and two runs.

Mussina, who was deleted from the rotation after three miserable outings, wasn’t doing back flips over his performance.

“I felt better, I guess,” Mussina said. “I knew where the ball was going.

“There is still stuff to work on but I feel better. It was fun to pitch again, but I still don’t know what I am doing. If I didn’t pitch today I don’t know when I would pitch.”

After giving up a first-inning run on Rodriguez’s two-out, broken-bat single, Hernandez blanked the Yankees during the next six frames.

Three runs in the fourth provided a 5-1 cushion and Hernandez was cruising.

Wang starts tonight having won three straight and six of his last seven decisions. He’s under enormous pressure to win because the Yankees have proven they can’t when Wang and Pettitte don’t work.

george.king@nypost.com