Robin Ventura couldn’t have been happier to escape the spotlight yesterday.

After Ventura hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, Hideki Matsui – whose locker is next door – belted a grand slam in the fifth, stealing the back page.

“He can have all those he wants,” Ventura said after the Yankees’ 7-3 win over the Twins in their frigid home opener. “He can hit as many as he wants.”

This is what Ventura brings to the Yankees. In the selfish world of baseball, he is truly unselfish.

“He’s a veteran presence who gives you that never any reason to panic, seen it, been there, done that all before kind of feeling,” said Todd Zeile, Ventura’s best friend on the team.

In the fourth, after the 35-year-old Ventura hit his third homer of the season by lifting a high first-pitch fastball from Joe Mays into the short porch in right, Zeile gave Ventura the best reward in the dugout, handing him a hot-water bottle.

“It was pretty cold,” Ventura said.

“Pretty cold” is a good way to describe Ventura’s second half last season. In the first three months last year, Ventura hit .256 with 19 homers. The final three months, he fell to .238 with nine homers. Ventura followed a similar trend in the second half of 2001.

So maybe it is a good thing Ventura has started the season only medium instead of red hot. After going 2-for-4 yesterday, he is batting .286.

Joe Torre spoke last year about giving Ventura rest to preserve him for the second half. Torre lived up to his bargain, starting Ventura in 130 games, a reasonably low number.

This year, with Zeile on the squad, Ventura’s starts could diminish in an effort to keep him ready the whole season.

Zeile also relayed the perfect Ventura story. When Torre came over to tell Ventura he wasn’t playing the other day, Ventura stopped him, telling him it wasn’t necessary. The message was clear: Torre’s the manager. Ventura’s the player.

Yesterday, Ventura hit the first home run, but Matsui was the star, the headline stealer. Ventura was the guy who didn’t mind.