Pedro Martinez had a cortisone shot in his right hip and was pushed back in the Mets’ rotation to Sunday’s Subway Series finale against the Yankees. Martinez, who had been scheduled to pitch Friday’s opener, felt soreness in the hip during his last two starts. He was given the shot Tuesday.

“Without a doubt, I felt a little uncomfortable out there,” Martinez said yesterday. “It was just getting a little worse.”

Victor Zambrano (2-3) will start in Martinez’s place in the opener against Kevin Brown (2-4). Kris Benson (1-1) will pitch Saturday against Randy Johnson (4-2), and Martinez (4-1) will face Carl Pavano (3-2) on Sunday – a matchup of pitchers in the 1997 trade that sent Martinez from Montreal to Boston.

Martinez has allowed four homers in his last two starts after giving up one in his first six. The soreness prevented him from pushing off the pitching rubber as much as he usually does. Manager Willie Randolph said tests showed “just inflammation, no damage, nothing earth shattering.”

After Saturday’s game against St. Louis, the three-time Cy Young Award winner said he had skipped throwing between starts.

Martinez is 10-10 with a 3.24 ERA in 28 regular-season games against the Yankees and 1-2 with a 4.72 ERA when facing them in the playoffs with Boston.

“Everybody wants to make a big deal about his record against them, but not too many guys have pretty numbers against that squad,” said Mets first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, who played alongside Martinez on Boston’s World Series championship team last year.

Because the weekend series is at Shea Stadium, Martinez will have to bat. But Mientkiewicz doesn’t expect trouble.

“I don’t think Pedro’s ever hit Randy Johnson, so I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Mientkiewicz said. “Bottom line on all this stuff that happens: They respect him, and he respects them.”