Joe Torre still has the magic touch in New York. All it took was his arrival for four games to quell another smoldering cauldron.
Presto, no more chants of “Fire Willie” or talk – at least for now – that Willie Randolph’s job is in jeopardy. The Mets are rolling, even if it wasn’t Torre’s intention to have his team become Flushing road kill on behalf of his former Yankees cohort, Randolph.
Last night the combination of Johan Santana’s left arm, the return of Ryan Church and continued thunder from Carlos Beltran propelled the Mets to a 6-1 victory over the Dodgers at Shea Stadium.
It was a week ago today that Randolph’s job was spared after a meeting with general manager Omar Minaya and team ownership. The Mets (28-27) have won five of seven games since then, including 3-of-4 against the Dodgers, and last night moved within 3 1/2 games of first-place Philadelphia in the NL East.
“A lot of stuff was going on last week,” Santana said. “But we felt we could overcome all the things and start winning games and start feeling better about ourselves.”
Santana (7-3) had his sharpest home performance as a Met, allowing one run on six hits and three walks over 72/3 innings for his 100th career victory. The offense contributed as Beltran and Church each smashed a two-run homer as part of a five-run outburst in the third.
About the best thing Torre could say about his initial return to town since leaving the Yankees was his Dodgers didn’t get swept. Still, Los Angeles (27-29) dropped below .500 during the series and trails Arizona by 4 1/2 games in the NL West.
Now it’s a matter of the Mets keeping it going against two awful NL West clubs, San Francisco and San Diego. The Mets begin a three-game series at San Francisco tonight before heading to San Diego for four.
“We’ve got some payback, some catching up to do,” Randolph said. “We got over .500 and now we have to keep pushing forward.”
The Mets seized control during a five-run third inning last night in which they sent 10 batters to the plate and chased starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda (2-5). David Wright dou bled in a run before Beltran slugged a two- run homer, his second in as many games. Church, back from a concussion and mak ing his first start since May 20, hit a two-run blast later in the inning.
The Mets made it 1-1 in the first on Wright’s 9-iron in front of right fielder Delwyn Young after Jose Reyes had singled leading off and stole second. Reyes ex tended his hitting streak to 17 games and reached base for the 32nd straight game, one short of the team record set by Darryl Strawberry.
Church couldn’t have asked for a much better return, finishing 3-for-4 with the two RBIs. Wright was also 3-for-4 with two RBIs.Santana’s only trouble came in the first inning. Juan Pierre ripped a shot off Wright’s glove leading off the game for a double and scored on Matt Kemp’s single.
The Dodgers didn’t threaten again against Santana until the eighth, when he was removed from the game following a walk to Pierre and single by Kemp with two outs. Reliever Joe Smith hit Kent to load the bases before Scott Schoeneweis retired Loney to end the threat. It marked the fourth straight start in which Santana lasted at least seven innings. The left-hander has won his last three Shea Stadium starts after taking a loss and no-decision at home to open to the season.
“We feel good about ourselves right now, and we’re playing good baseball,” Beltran said. “We’re doing basically everything right.”
mpuma@nypost.com