FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Red Sox host the Los Angeles Dodgers this afternoon in a nationally televised (ESPN) game. It will mark the first time that Joe Torre, L.A.’s new manager, has managed against the Sox in something other than a Yankee uniform.

Francona said he looked forward to talking with Torre without the tense atmosphere that accompanies Red Sox-Yankee games.

“I’m glad,” said manager Terry Francona of Torre’s new assignment. “I’m glad he’s in the National League. I feel like I can put my arm around him (today) and people won’t yell at me. … I wouldn’t go out to the batting cage (when he was managing the Yankees) because I just didn’t want to put him in that position.”

Francona said he sympathized with Torre last October when the manager was left to twist in the wind before deciding to turn down a one-year contract extension offer from the Yankees.

“I just wanted him to be happy,” said Francona. “I felt bad that he was living through that and it was so out there.”

-SEAN McADAM