Apparently leaving New York suits Joe Torre just fine, thank you:
Joe Torre slept about two and a half hours in a Midtown hotel before spending part of his second day in New York since February sitting with some kindergartners. Torre, the old Yankees manager, the older Mets manager and the current manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, had a crucial appointment with an aspiring actress.
Several hours before Torre led the Dodgers against the Mets at Shea Stadium on Thursday night, he traveled to Westchester County to see the actress play Captain Hook in “Peter Pan.” The actress was his 12-year-old daughter, Andrea Rae. Torre slipped behind the ropes for a school show that was supposed to be for a kindergarten audience only. He still has pull in New York.
“She was great,” Torre said. “It was cute. Some of the kids didn’t know their lines and she was helping them.”
Andrea Rae knew her lines, just like her father. That was apparent after Torre sat in the third-base dugout and smoothly spoke about why he misses New York and why he does not miss New York, about why he has less stress in Los Angeles and about why he is relieved that he is not enduring what Willie Randolph has endured lately as the embattled Mets manager.
If it is possible for the usually relaxed Torre to be more relaxed, he is. He managed the Yankees to four World Series titles in a dozen seasons. (Randolph critics can note, a calm manager can win a championship.) But Torre declined a one-year contract offer that would have paid him $8 million if the team won it all. Instead, he ended up in Los Angeles, a laid-back city that has made him more serene.
Unfortunately, the Dodgers are still giving Torre headaches; they’re 26-27 so far, but, in the NL West, that’s enough to put them in second place only 3 1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks.
