Sports

THE BRONX BALMER:JOE’S SOOTHING WORDS GIVE BOBBY A BOOST

In the swirl of tension and negativity that has enveloped Bobby Valentine and the Mets over the past week and increased with each successive loss, the manager found some solace and comfort in the words of a man who works across town, a man who knows exactly what Valentine was going through.

The man is Valentine’s American League counterpart, Joe Torre, a manager who, like Valentine, was said to have never won the big one until he came to the Yankees in 1996.

While shooting a commercial together Sunday night at Newark airport, the Mets manager and the Yankee manager had plenty of time – three or four hours, Valentine said to talk about things in general.

Obviously, they spoke about what has been going on with the Mets, about the team’s six-game losing streak going into last night’s game at Shea with the Braves and about Valentine’s statement that he should not be back if the Mets don’t make the playoffs.

Valentine came away from the discussion in a more peaceful mood than he had been. In the same way that Torre can calm and relax his players, he had the same effect on his former player, and that may indirectly affect Valentine’s players.

“Joe’s always been a really relaxing guy for me to be around,” Valentine said. “I played for him and I struggled and he relaxed me then. I had an operation and he understood it.”

The two New York managers were taping a commercial for a major airline and had plenty of time to discuss the pennant races, their teams, and baseball in general. But Valentine said that when he saw Torre, the first words out of the Yankee manager’s mouth were that he understood what Valentine was doing down in Philadelphia.

“He kind of voiced his support,” Valentine said. “He’s a good guy. He said he understood what I did and he thinks I did the right thing.”

Valentine and Torre did not have such a good relationship 20 years ago, mainly because when Torre was the manager of the Mets he released Valentine, and the player ripped his skipper publicly.

There were wounds there that didn’t completely heal for a long time, but as the two have been in New York together since late 1996, they have spent a lot of time together at functions, dinners and the like and have developed a warmer relationship.

The “thing” that Valentine said Torre was referring to was his statement in Philadelphia after the fifth loss that he should be fired if the Mets don’t make it to the postseason. He said he wasn’t getting the most out of his players and therefore it was his fault that they hadn’t won in six prior games.

Since then, his remarks have been a hot topic of conversation in barber shops, in print and on the airwaves. But maybe that was exactly what Valentine wanted to do, exactly what Torre meant.

In essence, Valentine said his goal was to be a stand-up guy and accept responsibility. He is not the type to publicly admonish his players, or to shift blame elsewhere, and Torre respected that.

Torre went on to explain to Valentine that the biggest problem facing both of them is stress, and Valentine is certainly withstanding his share lately.

“He said he believes his cancer problem was stress-related,” Valentine said. “He said he didn’t want the same thing to happen to me.”

Torre always has been able to evoke a calm manner in his players. Valentine certainly seemed calm and relaxed yesterday before the game. He spent his time chatting and laughing with players, did an interview with a large group of reporters, who still wanted to know why he practically fired himself over the weekend. And finally he made out the lineup.

That, after all, is his most important job.