BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. — Joe Torre was close, about 28 miles from the House That Ruth Built today, not 3,000 miles and a Left Coast mind-set away. Still, the tug of history wasn't pulling him any nearer.

He'll watch tomorrow night's All-Star Game on television, not from the field-level view he had for 12 years as Yankees manager. For Torre, there are no regrets.

The final game in his 12-year tenure was a 6-4 loss to the Indians last Oct. 8.

"When I left Yankee Stadium, I had a sense it was going to be the last time I left there," Torre said at a Westchester golf outing to support his Safe at Home Foundation. "I don't think I need to see it one more time just to get that nostalgic feel for it. I have that ... It would have been a little different perspective, being in the National League dugout and looking from the other side, it'd be a little strange ... I'm looking forward to watching it from a distance."

Torre, who accepted a job with the Dodgers after last season, said he spoke with National League manager Clint Hurdle, who called him when he chose Lou Piniella as a coach.

"He explained that he and Lou go back a long way and I certainly understood it," Torre said before teeing off at Trump National Golf Club here. "I just told him, 'Don't even give it a second thought.' As far as I'm concerned, my being in uniform at Yankee Stadium would cause more of a distraction than it needs to, and the game is about, first of all, the ballpark obviously, and the players who made the club. That's where the fun should be and that's where the attention should be."

Citing Ruth, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Lou Gehrig's epic July 4 farewell speech, Torre clearly understands the stream of baseball history that flows along River Avenue.

"I have great memories," he said. "There's just so much, even though they'll move across the street, you can't help feel the magic in that area. It's a museum. You watch people's eyes when they come there for the first time and take a stroll out to Monument Park."

On Sunday night, Torre played the role of museum adviser, telling Dodgers All-Star catcher Russell Martin about the ballyard in the Bronx.

"He's never been to Yankee Stadium and I was filling him in on what to expect, what to go see, and just to enjoy the experience," Torre said.

Torre and his successor, Joe Girardi, often share phone conversations ("They're having trouble scoring runs and I can sympathize with him," he said) and suggested that the Yankees' string of injuries was "bizarre" but "they're an arm's length away from getting where they need to get. The temporary losses of Damon and Matsui are one thing, but when you lose Wang for a long period of time, that was a blow."

Part of Torre's successful reign was the ability to deal with principal owner George Steinbrenner. Girardi has the Boss' son, Hank, as the shoot-from-the-hip overseer.

"You deal with your bosses," Torre said. "That's a big part of what the job is; there's no magic formula. You have to have the intelligence and the self-worth to deal with it and Joe Girardi takes a back seat to nobody in that regard ... I think he's doing fine. There's no handbook on this stuff. You deal with it as your personality allows you. Joe is bright, he knows baseball, he's had the experience in New York of being on winning teams, he knows what the expectations are and the players respect him. We're all going to be judged on how many wins we have and how many losses we have. But I think emotionally, he has the ability to handle that."

Emotionally, Torre seems like a man settled in his path — at least for the moment.

"Right now, I've moved on," he answered when asked if he mused about a possible return to New York. Then he added, "There are no absolutes in this world."