I don't know, but try this
$the_newest = get_posts($query_string . "numberposts=1");
$the_newer = get_posts($query_string . "numberposts=4&offset=1");
$the_new = get_posts($query_string . "numberposts=5&offset=5&order=DESC&orderby=post_date");
I would look into doing your code like this, so it only has to do a db query once and show it depending.
<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php include(TEMPLATEPATH."/l_sidebar.php");?>
<div id="container">
<?php global $query_string; ?>
<?php $k=0; ?>
<?php query_posts($query_string . "&numberposts=5&offset=5&order=DESC&orderby=post_date"); ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<?php // if first post show it like this ?>
<?php if ($k == 0) { ?>
<div class="post" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><img src="/wp-content/uploads/<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'main-image', true); ?>" class="link-img" /></a>
<h2 id="main-post"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div id="main-entry">
<?php the_excerpt(__('Read more...')); ?>
<span class="read_more"><a title="Read more about: <?php the_title(); ?>" href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">Read more...</a></span>
</div>
</div>
<?php // if not first post show it like this
<?php } else { ?>
<div class="post" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><img src="/wp-content/uploads/<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'main-image', true); ?>" class="link-img" /></a>
<h2 id="main-post"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div id="main-entry">
<?php the_excerpt(__('Read more...')); ?>
<span class="read_more"><a title="Read more about: <?php the_title(); ?>" href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">Read more...</a></span>
</div>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<?php $k++; ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
