Remember the sizzling, scintillating summer of 1977 when Billy Martin’s Yankees stormed past the Red Sox and went on to capture their first World Championship in 15 years by beating the Dodgers in six games as Reggie Jackson blasted three home runs in the grand finale?

In this series, The Post takes you back 30 years to one of the greatest seasons in Yankee history.

BILLY Martin’s precarious posi tion as manager of the Yankees will be reinforced when he meets with George Steinbrenner and Gabe Paul before tonight’s game with the A’s at the Stadium, a club official has told The Post.

Martin will be told he is the Yankees manager for the rest of the season-barring catastrophe. Should the Yankees drop back another couple of games, this apparently would not be judged catastrophic and Martin would be retained.

The manager will also be informed-for the last time-that he is expected to work even more closely with the front office.

The Post has also learned Martin has his job only because the Yankees have been unable to find a suitable replacement at this stage of the season, something Martin has suspected for some time.

“Today has got to help Billy and the club,” the source said. “With everything hanging over his head, he hasn’t been coping emotionally. He’s been running scared.”

With very good reason. Ever since Steinbrenner issued his Seven Commandments 16 days ago, Martin has been under microscopic inspection, the type no man can hope to pass. He has reacted to people and events unevenly, and more than one defeat has sent him close to tearful breakdowns.

Always on his mind is the possibility he has managed his last game. Monday in Syracuse, as he walked onto the MacArthur Stadium field for an exhibition, he turned to a few writers and said, “Well, it’s been a pleasure working with you.”

And the Yankees have been uneven as well. They’ve won only 12 of their last 26 and fallen five games behind Boston.

Not many people believe they can afford to fall any further back.

“It’s legitimate to feel that if we fall back much further we’d be in danger of losing touch,” a player said, “but I don’t foresee that happening.”

“That would be a legitimate concern,” said Paul, when asked if the Yanks are close to losing touch. “Our record’s nothing to shout about. But baseball’s a game of hills and valleys.”

Monday night Paul said, “The Yankee pitching must turn around for us to get back in the race.”

The pitching will be a much-discussed point at this afternoon’s meeting. Don Gullett is out for at least another week, Catfish Hunter has been ineffective and certainly Ed Figueroa’s arm is hurting. With 15 games over the next 14 days, expect to see Ken Clay enter the starting rotation.

Clay, a 23-year-old righthander, has made only 12 appearances for the Yankees, two starts. In 28 1/3 innings, he has surrendered 25 hits, with an ERA of 4.76 and an 0-3 record. But he’s got a live arm and good stuff. The Yankees have taken notice of Don Aase’s success in Boston. Clay has been rated the better prospect. They want him to pitch.

Nobody, apparently, will speak up for Ken Holtzman this afternoon.

Players have been second-guessing the manager behind his back. They are aware his status has been so laughingly shaky. They too believe he has been running scared, or maybe running in defiance. Neither of which can help a team trying to fulfill its manifest destiny of store-bought and field-earned championship.

Players wonder why the Yankees are not as aggressive as they were a year ago. Some people think Reggie Jackson ought to be hitting fourth; Chris Chambliss has been slumping. It is to Martin’s credit that he had held his disappointing pitching staff together as well as he has; it is to his discredit that he has allowed his resentment of Jackson to interfere with his use of him as a winning ballplayer.

These will be the particulars discussed and tonight, when the Yankees take the field, they will know that Billy Martin will be their manager for the rest of the season. This cannot hurt. It could even help.