• Preview
• Bleachers

Torre visits Big Apple for the first time with Dodgers

May 29, 2008 - 1:23 PM Los Angeles Dodgers (26-26) at New York Mets (25-26) 7:10 p.m. EDT

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Joe Torre endured a very public divorce with the New York Yankees in the offseason. On Thursday, he'll meet up with another manager getting caught up in a new York media firestorm of his own.

For the first time since he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, Torre returns to New York to face the embattled Willie Randolph and the Mets in the first of three games at Shea Stadium.

Torre won four World Series championships with the New York Yankees in his first five seasons but declined a rich one-year offer from the team - worth a reported $5 million - in the offseason, eventually settling upon a three-year, $13 million contract with the Dodgers.

The New York media has seemingly turned their attention to Mets manager Willie Randolph, who has been the subject of persistent rumors for most of this season after his team suffered the biggest late-season collapse in major league history in 2007, and has followed that up with a largely unsatisfying 2008 campaign that has seen the team fall as many as three games under .500.

However, talk of his impending firing has cooled ever so slightly after the Mets took two of three from Florida - a trend they will look to continue when they send Claudio Vargas (1-2, 3.93 ERA) to the mound in the opener.

The righthander allowed two runs and four hits over seven innings in Saturday's 9-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, walking one while striking out three.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers - who scored one run in each game of a three-game sweep against the Chicago Cubs - counter with Brad Penny (5-5, 5.32). The righthander, who has dropped each of his last three decisions, surrendered four runs and four hits over seven innings in Saturday's 4-0 setback to the St. Louis Cardinals, walking two while striking out five.