By PETER ABRAHAM
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - John Valentin knows Mo Vaughn better than anybody in baseball. They were teammates at Seton Hall before getting drafted by the Boston Red Sox. Then after toiling in the same minor-league outposts for a few years, they spent seven seasons together in Boston.

"He's like my brother," Valentin said. "I've been on more buses and planes with that guy than I could possibly remember."

Vaughn and Valentin were reunited with the New York Mets last season. But that segment of their shared journey was a painful one as Vaughn never hit and Valentin didn't think he played enough. The deeper Vaughn fell into his slump, the more he talked with Valentin searching for a way out. The two would huddle at their adjacent lockers for hours.

"I probably should send him a bill for therapy," Valentin said, smiling. "He owes me."

Valentin was cut loose by the Mets after the season and signed with Baltimore, but he has kept in touch with Vaughn and followed his progress this spring.

"I'll tell you what," Valentin said. "People in New York haven't seen the real Mo and they will this season."

To Valentin, home runs and RBI are only part of that equation. Vaughn's personality, he said, can carry a team.

"He would get on a roll in Boston and people just went with him," said Valentin, whose two-run double helped the Orioles pound the Mets 15-6 Sunday. "That's what the Mets need, somebody to light a fire and shake people up."

There are signs of that spark. Vaughn didn't play in Sunday's game but stayed in the clubhouse after his morning workout, talking with Roger Cedeno and cracking jokes at the expense of rookie Esix Snead. Teammates have noticed Vaughn going out of his way to communicate more this season.

"He's been all over the place," Cliff Floyd said. "He was talking to (Tsuyoshi) Shinjo the other day and I know Mo doesn't speak Japanese."

Vaughn's fitness and batting stance have been closely examined this spring. But what could ultimately make the biggest difference is how comfortable he feels. It started during the winter when new manager Art Howe visited Vaughn at his home in Ohio and told him to feel free to express himself.

"There's a new regime and there's less tension around here," Vaughn said. "That's the way it's supposed to be. They brought me in here last year and didn't want me to be me."

Vaughn didn't get along with former manager Bobby Valentine but respects the new staff, particularly bench coach Don Baylor.

"You can feel that man's presence," Vaughn said. "Don has a way of getting in my head and that's what I need."

Baylor first met Vaughn at an awards banquet in New York in 1995. After being fired as manager of the Chicago Cubs last season, he came to New York primarily because of his relationship with Howe and the chance to work with Vaughn. A day after Baylor was hired he and Vaughn spoke on the telephone for more than an hour.

"I can talk to him about hitting and how not to get beat on certain pitches but it's more than that," Baylor said. "I'm trying to get him to forget about last year and be the player he was in Boston. He was the man in Boston and he needs to get back to feeling like that.

"Maybe I can relate to him on some levels because we've been through the same things. He knows I'm there for him and he knows Artie feels the same way."