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April 29, 2007 -- NOT that long ago, when the fans still universally adored Joe Torre and the championship years were closer in the rear-view mirror, the Yankee manager was contemplating, essentially, firing himself from George Steinbrenner.

It was during the 2003 season, and Torre had become weary of all the behind-the-scenes assassins who had Steinbrenner's ear, and at all the sniping at coaches Torre held dear. He had a year left on his contract, but was wondering whether to continue to go through the grinder every time there was valley in a season.

Privately he told people what aggravated him most was that despite having steered the Yanks to the playoffs every year and having captured four World Series, he had no collateral with The Boss. "It bothers me that there is no acknowledgement that I know how to get a team through a season," Torre told associates.

That has actually been one of Torre's assets, his ability to navigate his clubs to the top of the AL East year after year, through injuries, poor performance and the traveling circus that is the Yankees. Torre's steadiness mattered in each of the last two seasons, in particular, when the Yanks won the division despite the kinds of injuries and pitching shortages that threaten to derail them early in 2007.

But will he get points for that now when Steinbrenner wants blood? This is very possibly the lowest regular-season valley in Torre's 12-year tenure, and it just might be that The Boss fixates on the valley, not on Torre's history.

Steinbrenner has hankered to fire Torre for quite a while, and knows public opinion has turned on Torre. The anonymity and instant venom provided by the Internet has created a swelling community that wants Torre out as badly as Steinbrenner does.

But here are two questions Steinbrenner should weigh before acting rashly: What manager would be winning with the 2007 Yankees in their current state? And if not Torre, then who has the gravitas and mentality to cope not just with a flawed and expensive team, but with all the pressure and extras that come with that in Steinbrenner's New York?

"Eventually this is going to improve and get better," Torre said after the Yanks' 3-1 triumph yesterday.

That was not easy to believe three hours earlier. On the first pitch of the game, Julio Lugo crashed a liner off of Jeff Karstens, fracturing his fibula. Karstens left before recording an out, leaving nine innings for the beleaguered bullpen. Amazingly, Kei Igawa gave the Yanks six shutout innings that helped end a seven-game losing streak and, perhaps momentarily, the lust for Torre's job.

Still, the injury to Karstens reflected the overall problem. The Yanks have had to use nine starters, including five rookies, in 22 games. Torre's worst trait as a manager has been to burn out relievers, and he is doing that again here in April. But mostly because there is no choice. Pick your best manager, Bobby Cox or Jim Leyland or Tony La Russa, none are going to succeed when 12 times in 22 games a starter fails to go even five innings.

And Cox, Leyland and La Russa are not available to replace Torre. Neither is Lou Piniella, who had been Steinbrenner's first choice last October. That probably is good news. Piniella might be baseball's Larry Brown, a vagabond in it for the dough. He pretty much walked out on both the Mariners and Devil Rays, and his financially bulked-up Cubs are 10-13.

So where would Steinbrenner turn? Joe Girardi could come out of the TV booth, but he has a tinge of Buck Showalter's controlling nature, and would that work? Is Don Mattingly really ready for this? Larry Bowa couldn't control his emotions in Philadelphia. Does Steinbrenner want to gamble there is still desire in a Davey Johnson or Cito Gaston?

Or does Steinbrenner want to do what he has never been willing to do, trust that Torre really does know how to manage a team through the valleys, knows how to manage the full season, not just April. Torre has always hated when Steinbrenner did not see that history, and now he needs The Boss to see it more than ever.

joel.sherman@nypost.com

UltimateSora91 wrote:He burns out relievers. Period.

But haha at the Larry Brown comparison.

NEW YORK -- With Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte in the rotation and Mike Mussina scheduled to return from a hamstring injury Thursday, Yankees manager Joe Torre can take comfort in the knowledge that competent, veteran starters will soon be working in 60 percent of his team's games.

The arrangement is a welcome departure from much of April, when Torre could have used input from Ron Guidry, Tom House, Mike Marshall, Dr. Jim Andrews, the Columbia University kinesiology department and the Army Corps of Engineers just to make it through the day.

The Yankees will finish April at 9-14, having lost eight of their last nine games. The skid ensures that wherever Torre goes the next few days, someone will be sticking a notebook or a microphone in his face and asking him, "Have you heard anything from George today?"

Kei Igawa's strong emergency relief effort Saturday briefly turned down the heat on the Torre unemployment vigil, but it's percolating once again. The Yankees lost 7-4 to Boston on Sunday to fall 6