THE Yankees have scored just one more run than their opponents. Their on-base percentage is something out of the Alvaro Espinoza era. Their defense has not been sharp and has been downright abysmal at third base.

Yet manager Joe Torre looks beyond the all-around blemishes of his team early this season and returns, where he always does, to the starting pitching. He knows that during his regal reign as Yankee skipper that his team has revolved around its rotation.

“We’ve always put our eggs in that basket,” Torre said.

Right now, post-Easter, those eggs are not sunny-side up. The Yankee rotation is El Duque and too many Ls. The Mets are getting more out of Pat Mahomes, Glendon Rusch and Dennis Springer than the Yankees are out of Roger Clemens, David Cone and Andy Pettitte.

Yesterday, Clemens began and ended brutally, obscuring The Rocket-esque work he did in between in what would become a 7-3 Twin victory. As throughout much of Clemens’ year-plus as a Yankee, teammates talked about how close Clemens was to putting together a wonderful outing. But when did we start scoring Clemens on a curve?

These were the Twins. And he is Roger Clemens. That combination is supposed to reduce Minnesota to finding positives within a loss, not Clemens.

Instead, Clemens put the Yankees behind 3-0 in the first with a lack of control. The Yankees tied the score in the sixth and, before he even registered an out in the seventh, Clemens had surrendered a lead back to Minnesota. Thus, he had demoralized his team twice, or once more than it could handle.

This was the kind of performance we saw a lot from Jim Abbott in his Yankee days – good enough to lose. We have seen it plenty from Clemens in pinstripes, too.

And the Yankees are in a phase where they need Clemens and his rotation mates perhaps more than at any time in Torre’s tenure. The defense should improve dramatically tonight with the return of Gold Glove Scott Brosius. But what is up with an offense that ranks near the bottom of the league in on-base percentage, a statistic that usually defines its relentless nature?

Right now, the lower third of the lineup is an abyss and, in particular, Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer must produce or get ready to hear the renewal of talk that the Yankees need upgrades at left field and DH.

Even when the Yankee offense has purred effectively in recent years, this has nevertheless been a club that prevailed because it won close outcomes, a scenario that at its core was predicated on a Yankee starter doing anything from dominating to keeping the team in the game. If the rotation really is not as strong, then the Yankees’ 12-6 record of present could turn out to be a mirage.

“If our record was reversed, there would be a lot more questions about the rotation being asked,” Cone said. “In the short term, we are not pitching as advertised.”

Through 18 games last season – a year that ended with a World Series title – Yankee starters were 9-2 with a 3.19 ERA. Through 18 games this season, the rotation is 6-6 with a 5.20 ERA. Take away the splendid Hernandez and the rotation numbers become 2-6 with a 6.30 ERA.

“El Duque is carrying us right now,” Cone said. “Obviously we are not where we want to be.”

This is not a worry that has snuck up on the Yankees. From spring to now, there have been questions concerning the 37-year-old age of Clemens and Cone and the uncertainty of the No. 5 spot. Add a shoulder injury to Pettitte, who is scheduled to return tomorrow, and you see what even Cone admits “are valid questions.”

“We know we are the backbone of the team,” Cone said. “The rotation is not where it needs to be. But it will be. I firmly believe that. I believe in our track record, work habits and personality.”

Cone and Clemens, in particular, did not get to be, well, Cone and Clemens, without having a stubborn belief in themselves. That surely has not waned. Both refuse to concede an iota. Clemens has been more of a power pitcher in his last two starts with long stretches of being overpowering. He won his 1998 Cy Young after a sketchy start. Cone has made a switch to the other side of the pitching rubber and joked, “I’m not dead yet, but obituaries are being written.”

With these two we keep looking for black or white resolution; are they still great or are they finished? It is possible, that like flecks in their hair, that they have fallen into a gray area where they can still find the best of themselves, but not with quite the consistency? Hence, Clemens’ up-and-down performance yesterday.

“We can live with gray because we have a good bullpen,” Torre said. “I’ve experienced that with other players like Bob Gibson and Warren Spahn and they still kept the ability to keep you in games and win. … I don’t think we are there yet [in the gray area] with [Cone and Clemens].”

Eighteen games into the season, we are still figuring out who Cone and Clemens are, and whether the Yankee rotation is still the heart of this team.