YOU would have thought the crowd of 51,958 would be behind Jeff Weaver last night at the Stadium. The right-hander was coming off one of his best starts as a Yankee, the club had yet to lose following the All-Star break and the hot summer night offered a festive atmosphere.

The crowd turned on Weaver early, though – the combination of too many beers in the stands and too many line drives on the field proved combustible – and with each hit surrendered the boos grew louder. By the time Weaver took his 29-step walk to the dugout after just 41/3 innings, the crowd reaction was vicious.

That perhaps is the most disturbing part of the Jeff Weaver saga. Weaver was the losing pitcher in a game that was called by rain after 7½ innings with the Yankees trailing 8-0. The improving Blue Jays teed off on Weaver’s flat curve ball, bashing 11 hits, including a solo home run from Vernon Wells, the first of two home runs from the young star, and scoring five runs, as Weaver’s record fell to 5-8.

The young pitcher has reached the Armando Benitez stage of his Yankee career. Like Met fans did with Benitez, they expected the worse and usually got it in big situations. Curiously, Yankee fans have open arms for Benitez, but Weaver has become their Benitez.

Prove us wrong! Show us you belong!

If the verbal assault continues, Weaver must be traded. On this night it was fitting he was on the mound because Pez Charlie Brown dispensers were given away to the fans, and Weaver was dispensing hit after hit while the fans dispensed boos.

Asked if he were surprised about the harshness of the booing, Weaver said, “What are you going to do? Is it going to change me as a person? I don’t think so.”

That’s the point. Weaver is a Southern California kid who said he is just trying “to catch the wave.” The winning wave, but the surf’s not up in The Bronx.

Weaver’s previous start was in Toronto. Over eight innings he surrendered only four hits and one run. That was the SkyDome, not his Boo-home. The problem is the Yankees are stuck with trying to turn around Weaver because Jose Contreras has become the $32 million missing arm. The Yankees announced last night that Contreras threw 30 pitches from a half mound in Tampa at 50 percent. Pitching from half mounds in Tampa at 50 percent halfway through the season is not good.

The honeymoon for Weaver is long over, and once that happens in this city, a fragile pitcher cannot expect to succeed. If you don’t feel like Babe’s House is Your House, you’re in trouble. Go ask Ed Whitson.

Part of the Yankees’ success in the Brian Cashman-Joe Torre era has been bringing in players who fit – players who love the spotlight and can take the heat, players who know how to fight back in times of trouble. Weaver seems lost right now. You can sense it in his body language on the mound.

Torre is keeping the faith, saying that if Weaver can’t overcome all this, “He’s not the guy we thought he was.”

From the start last night Weaver’s pace was agonizingly slow. He and the Mets’ Steve Trachsel are soulmates in the deliberate department. One of the great mysteries in this game is why any pitcher would want to be that deliberate. He’s putting his fielders to sleep. The slow pace always favors the hitters.

They can dig in, they sense they have a pitcher who doesn’t want to let go of the ball. They already have won the mental battle. Until Weaver corrects that and other flaws, including getting overly frustrated by umpires – until he learns to trust his stuff – he will be at a terrible disadvantage.

Trying to fix all that in the booing Bronx is mission impossible.