Phillips entered an undisclosed rehab center for treatment a day after he was sacked for the dalliance - but his agent insisted the timing was a coincidence.

"This was planned in advance. It has nothing to do with him getting fired," agent Steve Lefkowitz said. "He's trying to save his marriage."

Brooke Hundley, whose sordid three-night stand with Phillips wrecked his marriage and both their careers, was fired yesterday.

"Brooke Hundley is no longer working here," said ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz.

The Ithaca College graduate had worked as an ESPN production assistant for remote games since September 2008.

After the affair ended in July, the 22-year-old Hundley stalked Phillips' son on Facebook and taunted his wife with calls and a tawdry letter.

Marni Phillips filed for divorce Sept. 14.

"She just needs peace. She just needs this to go away for her children's sake," a neighbor and old friend of the long-suffering spouse said outside the couple's Connecticut home.

Steve Phillips, 46, a father of four, was disappointed ESPN let him go, Lefkowitz said.

The "Baseball Tonight" analyst and "Sunday Night Baseball" commentator was notified just minutes before the news was made public during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday.

He was suspended for a week in August, when the network first got wind of the fling, then took a leave of absence last week after the seedy saga became public. Phillips said he was "deeply sorry."

During his six-year tenure as a Mets general manager, Phillips admitted to bedding a team employee in 1998.

"Obviously, he has a problem and he fell off the wagon," Lefkowitz said. "Even though [Marni] filed for divorce, they're trying to work it out."

He compared Phillips' condition to that of other celebs who have been treated for sex addiction. "It's the same thing as alcohol addiction," Lefkowitz said.

The past few days have been "very tough," but the axed analyst is determined to get through it, the agent said. "He's trying to get better first."