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--> --> Valentine and Floyd feud heats up over All-Star snub NEW YORK (AP) - Bobby Valentine probably won't be able to irritate anyone with his All-Star picks next season. The honor of managing the All-Star game has turned into a headache for Valentine following a run-in with Florida Marlins outfielder Cliff Floyd. The simmering feud between Valentine and Floyd heated up Thursday, two days after a phone conversation that was supposed to end the tension. After talking to Valentine - the manager of the defending NL champion New York Mets and the NL All-Stars - Floyd was so certain he was going to be picked for Tuesday's game that he bought nearly $16,000 worth of plane tickets. But Floyd wasn't among the selections for the NL team, and on Thursday, Valentine said Floyd "misunderstood the conversation" - prompting an angry response from Floyd. "If he said I misunderstood, then he's lying," Floyd said. About all Floyd, his agents and Valentine could agree on Thursday was that someone wasn't telling the truth. Floyd and Valentine have been having a spat since May, when Floyd called the Mets skipper "a stupid manager" during a testy series between the teams. Valentine later said Floyd's remarks could be a tiebreaker in his All-Star picks. Valentine and Floyd tried to clear the air Tuesday when Mets public relations director Jay Horwitz called Floyd's agents to let them know Valentine wanted to speak to Floyd. "The point of the conversation was to clear the air for both of us," Floyd told the Sporting News Radio. "I wasn't losing sleep over it, but it was bothering me that every time I got asked a question, it wasn't about baseball, it was about comments I made about Bobby Valentine." The phone call only exacerbated the situation. Floyd's agent, Seth Levinson, said Valentine said: "I'm not supposed to tell you today because it is against league rules. But congratulations, you're on the team." "Cliff Floyd's agent is a liar," Valentine said. "I didn't back out of anything. I talked to Cliff and Cliff knows exactly what I said. "(Cliff) called me and I told him he's on the bubble and I appreciate everything he does," Valentine added. "I told him that I love him as a player, I've wanted to get him as a player, I scouted him as a player and we'll see how the chips fall." That prompted an angry response from Levinson, who, with his brother Sam, represents many major league players, including Mets first baseman Todd Zeile. "We will stand by our reputation in the industry and the character of the players we represent," Seth Levinson said. "I have never said anything publicly about this incident until today. So Bobby Valentine's attack is without basis." Floyd was so certain of what he heard that he immediately spent $15,988.13 on seven plane tickets for friends and family to go to Seattle for the game. "The truth is that when I talked to him on the phone, he said that I was on the team barring anything crazy," Floyd told the Sporting News Radio. "Now I'm going to ask you, what crazy thing could happen in one day?" But Floyd didn't make the team, losing to outfielders Moises Alou, Lance Berkman, Vladimir Guerrero, Larry Walker and Brian Giles. Valentine said Wednesday that the spat had nothing to do with his choice. "Please don't embarrass me with questions like that," he said. "He's not going because other guys are more deserving." With the Mets 12 games behind Philadelphia in the NL East, Valentine probably won't get the chance to pick the team next year. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing