Baseball analyst Steve Phillips was fired by the sports network for having an affair with a co-worker the Post cruelly refers to as "a portly production assistant."

He had been suspended since last week, when it was revealed that the 22-year-old production assistant, Brooke Hundley, had gone a little bit loopynuts after being dumped and Phillips had to go to police. "I have extreme concerns about the health and safety of my kids and myself," he said in a statement, because Hundley became "obsessive and delusional". Which means she called his wife (who filed for divorce on September 14th) repeatedly and then sent her a letter describing graphic details of the affair.

Tonight a spokesman for ESPN, Josh Krulewitz gave a statement: "Steve Phillips is no longer working for ESPN. His ability to be an effective representative for ESPN has been significantly and irreparably damaged, and it became evident it was time to part ways." You have to hope his wife was less cold.

He's taking the traditional route in such pants-down circumstances: a representative for the former Mets general manager told the Associated Press that Phillips is checking into a "facility" in order ''to address his personal issues.''

If Letterman drops this into his monologue, he has nuts of steel.