Valentine

NEW YORK -- New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine expressed confidence yesterday that his team would give a better account of itself at Shea Stadium, but he made a few lineup changes just in case.Rookie outfielder Melvin Mora, who hit a home run after replacing flu-ridden veteran Rickey Henderson in Game 2, was in the starting lineup in center field last night, replacing Shawon Dunston. Valentine also shuffled the batting order, moving John Olerud into the second slot and second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo into the No. 3 hole.

MY POSTAL deliverers have been busy this week, depositing a succession of Valentine's Day cards at my home. I don't have to open the envelopes to know the identity of each sender. I can tell by the handwriting which of my siblings has remembered their older brother with a card.If I had to say why my family gets into the Feb. 14 spirit with so much enthusiasm, it would be that the day was one of my mother's favorite holidays. There were many years when she mailed far more red-heart cards than Christmas greetings.

NEW YORK -- Future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson was back in the New York Mets' starting lineup yesterday, a day after leaving Game 4 in a huff and sparking a clubhouse controversy.Henderson was miffed Saturday night when manager Bobby Valentine pulled him for defensive replacement Melvin Mora at the start of the eighth inning.His gripe: That Valentine -- caught up in plotting his pitching strategy -- embarrassed him by letting him take the field before removing him from the game.The veteran outfielder reportedly told teammates, "I'm outta here" and headed for the clubhouse.

Craig Valentine stepped to the free-throw line in the quiet gymnasium on the warm summer day a few months ago. He looked up at the basket, bounced the ball a few times and let it fly.He then repeated this routine about 399 more times. Valentine also added 400 more shots from different places. And he labored through this routine every day of the summer.Valentine had been a star for Wilde Lake in high school. He led Howard County in scoring his junior and senior years and was considered one of the best players in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

Vitie Charles Atkocius Jr. is a sound Lithuanian name, but it doesn't sound like a clarinet player. So, every month for the past year a musician calling himself Chucky Valentine has placed classifieds in Baltimore's Music Monthly: I have played Karen Carpenter's songs 30,000 times. I play Motown, Blue Velvet classics and gravel pit blues. Call late. What happens to a man who plays Karen Carpenter's songs 30,000 times? Chucky Valentine has appeared in other forms, too. Chucky Rainbow Fountain Electric Valentine with diamond fingernails, golden fingers, silver palms, quick silver arms and mercury for blood is stuck at the gate with is altered clarinet.

SEATTLE - The controversy over a couple of well-publicized All-Star snubs was muted by the late addition of Florida Marlins outfielder Cliff Floyd and Seattle Mariners reliever Jeff Nelson, but the issue remained open yesterday. National League manager Bobby Valentine clearly was peeved when a reporter asked him during a news conference what would be the first thing he would say to Floyd when he saw him. "Probably, `Congratulations. Welcome. Let's go get 'em,' " Valentine said. "What do you think I'm going to say?

The pale brown sashes fell loosely over the tiny, hunched shoulders of Brownie Scout Troop 1277. Each sling bore hard-won badges in the battle for record-high cookie sales and good deeds.But the 7- and 8-year-olds were now up to their elbows in a mission of global impact: Operation Desert Heart.Clustered around a long table laden with paper, glue and markers,the 12 Brownies cut huge red hearts and flowers from construction paper and doilies at Swansfield Elementary School in Columbia.They attached the designs to cards and poems to be sent this past Friday to American soldiers stationed in the gulf for Valentine's Day."

Did Leonardo DiCaprio stop returning your phone calls even before he became titanically famous?Does Harry Connick Jr.'s little sister tell you he's not home even though you can hear him singing in the background?Has Denzel Washington told you he needs his "space"?Maybe I can help, for this Valentine's Day I have taken my place in the pathetic pantheon of anonymous exes of the rich and famous.Normally you break up with someone, never see them again, and forget about them in time. That gets harder to do when they suddenly show up in the pages of a major national magazine, especially around Valentine's Day.My ex - we'll call him Stalin - just did that.

Many women would agree that men perform few tasks worse than planning for Valentine's Day. And for men, trying to please a significant other without going broke is a struggle. "One of the least romantic days of the year is Valentine's Day," contends Michael Webb, a relationship author and operator of TheRomantic.com Web site. "The majority of men act like robots, purchasing flowers and chocolate for their sweethearts because that is what everyone else is doing. Many people celebrate the day out of obligation rather than celebration."

EASTON -- Act 2 of a real-life murder mystery that reads like a bad Hollywood script opened here yesterday, offering a sequel to the drama that made national headlines last winter and continues to pique the macabre curiosity of the media and locals.The mundane details of jury selection and evidentiary ground rules failed to dampen interest in the proceedings that are expected to continue all week at the stately Talbot County Courthouse.Kimberly Michelle Hricko, 32, is charged with murder, arson and attempted arson.