After thinking it over for roughly 48 hours, Jerry Manuel is leaving Livan Hernandez in the Mets’ rotation.

Manuel, who had said after Hernandez’s awful outing Wednesday at Arizona that he was considering moving him to the bullpen, announced the decision today before the opener of a four-game set at Citi Field against the Giants.

Hernandez will start the final game of that series Monday night. “I [like] we he has done for the most part for us, and I still believe he can get it done, so he’ll be our choice [Monday],” Manuel said.

Asked if Hernandez would be on a start-to-start basis the final seven weeks of the season, Manuel said: “No. I don’t want to make it a do-or-die situation for him. I don’t want him to have that type of pressure, so he gets a shot.”

Manuel wasn’t swayed by Hernandez’s 0-2 record and 12.00 ERA in his two starts on the Mets’ recent Western trip to San Diego and Phoenix. Manuel said he looked at Hernandez’s entire body of work this season instead.

“There have been times when he’s had a couple of bad outings and then he’s bounced right back, and hopefully we can get that from him the rest of the way,” Manuel said.

Manuel had mentioned Tim Redding and Nelson Figueroa as possible rotation replacements.