With the Yankees' win over the Red Sox yesterday that ended a 7-game losing streak, it seems that Yankees manager Joe Torre can breathe easily - for the moment. Torre answered questions about his job security before the game with aplomb, saying, "For me to say 'this,' 'this' or 'this,' I don't want to pawn it off and say it's not my fault. I'm in charge here. If you're going to enjoy the good times, you have to understand that to get there, you have to deal with some potholes." His players chimed in:

Jason Giambi: "I know in New York there's a lot of shock value. It's pretty ridiculous. This is a good ballclub. Joe can't control injuries; all he can do is put guys out there that want to play and want to win."

Derek Jeter: "The Boss should be upset; we haven’t played well. In terms of Mr. T., he’s not the one out there playing. He is in no way responsible for how we’ve been playing.”

Jorge Posada: “I don’t know. Anything can happen. I don’t want it to happen.”

Steinbrenner's press rep, the ubiquitous Howard Rubenstein, says The Boss isn't making a decision this weekend, but Post columnist Joel Sherman notes that Steinbrenner has wanted to fire Torre for a while. The Daily News' Bill Madden puts the blame on Yankees general manager Brian Cashman for some of his cost-saving moves.

And in the midst of the Yankees' tumult on the field were rumors that the Dolans of Cablevision wanted to buy the Yankees, which was enough to freak out Yankees fans more than a 7-game losing streak because of what the Dolans have done to the Knicks. The Post reports that the rumors were sorta true - that Charles Dolan actually asked Steinbrenner, "Are the Yankees for sale?" to which The Boss said, "Absolutely not." Amusingly, the Dolans may have given the Boss something to laugh about. From the Post:

[After Charles Dolan said he wanted to have lunch in Palm Beach, Steinbrenner] called his top lieutenants - team President Randy Levine, Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost, General Manager Brian Cashman, Vice President Felix Lopez and Steinbrenner's sons, Hank and Hal - and jokingly took bets as to whether word of a sale would be leaked to the media, the sources said.

"They all won the bet," one source said, after word of Dolan's interest turned up in reports yesterday. "They were prepared for the question. It was almost a set-up. They knew it was in his mind and they knew it was going to be a publicity play.

"It was a gigantic joke on the side of the Yankees. That's what made it so amusing. He may as well have tried to buy the Brooklyn Bridge," the source joked. "They think it'll happen again in the next two years."

And speaking of amusing, Steve Swindal, soon-to-be ex-son-in-law of George Steinbrenner, thinks Torre's job is safe, but given that Swindal's own job as the general partner of the Yankees isn't that safe, who knows?

Photographs of Brian Cashman and Joe Torre as well as a Yankees fan by Julie Jacobson/AP