Start spreadin' the news

Torre's pregame presser this morning was a crush of New York media wanting to ask him about New York, the Yankees, Hank Steinbrenner, etc. We knew it would be like this, given that this was his first trip into the home ballpark of either NY club. He handled it, as usual, with ease and grace. But for the Dodgers beat reporters, it is getting a little old. We were tempted to upset the apple cart this morning by actually asking a fairly question about the Dodgers, maybe something about Tony Abreu's abdominal injury or some such thing, but we never did. Or at least no one ever did while I was around. I finally gave up and wandered over to the back fields. ... Congrats to a longtime friend of mine, Wayne Hagin, who has been hired as the Mets' radio play-by-play man. Wayne previously did pxp for the Rockies and Cardinals. ... Right now, 18 minutes before game time, Joe Torre and Willie Randolph are exchanging pleasantries on the warning track near the Dodgers dugout. Those two guys accomplished a lot together while wearing the Yankees uniform. Now, they are both wearing different ones, but the mutual affection is obvious. ... The conversation just broke up, and th entire stadium erupted in applause as Willie jogged back to the Mets side. Not sure who the applause was meant for.