This is some deeply irresponsible ####, even for the Daily News.

I was going to go through the article to pull out the passage which includes the sourcing of the claim that McClure and Valentine "aren't seeing eye to eye.". There isn't one. There is no evidence whatsoever presented in this article. There isn't an unsourced rumor, a "source with knowledge of the Red Sox" or a "guy who valet parked Valentine's car" or anything.

The article seems to think that Valentine hiring an assistant pitching coach before the season started is evidence that Valentine and McClure arent seeing eye-to-eye now. But that's moronic.

A responsible headline, if you wanted to backhandedly stir up trouble, would be "Valentine gives McClure vote of confidence despite Red Sox' first inning troubles" or something.

Rollo's take:

Boston Herald
"For Red Sox staff, 2 heads better than 1"
By John Tomase
Thursday, July 5, 2012 ...

McClure is calm to the point of serenity when discussing the possibility he’s not “Bobby’s guy.”

“I have no animosity toward him if that’s the case,” he said. “He’s welcome to his opinion. My job here is to help the pitchers as much as I can, and whatever (Valentine) needs, I’m available. I’m not going to sit around and kiss nobody’s (butt), I’ll tell you that right now, but I’m a professional. And this is my job.

“One of my jobs is to get along with whoever is running the ballclub, because he’s the manager, and I respect that. And I believe that being a professional, you should respect that. Do we see eye-to-eye on everything? Of course not, no. Do we agree on everything? No. Would it help us if we had been together longer? I don’t know. But I have no animosity whatsoever toward what is being said or thought.” ...

For his part, Valentine dismisses the notion of a rift as a media creation. He states unequivocally that, “I did hire (McClure) and he was my choice,” and adds that if two catchers and five infielders each merit their own specific instructors, why shouldn’t 13 pitchers have two coaches, especially if one of them is clearly the boss? ...

“Our thing that we’ve talked about that has to be done properly is things have to come from one thought,” McClure said. “If we’ve talked about something and he wants to express it, I don’t mind at all. The only thing I don’t want is there to be confusion with the players getting the message. And there hasn’t been any confusion.”

Added Niemann: “I told him from the beginning that the only thing I want to do is make his life easier. I’m not going to contradict anything he’s doing with anybody. If I see something maybe we could do differently, I’ll go to Mac and talk to him about it first.”

So while it’s fair to question the composition of the coaching staff and how the pieces mesh with Valentine, as far as McClure and Niemann go, their arranged marriage has proven to be a productive one.

http://bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1061143539&format;=&page=2&listingType=sox#articleFull

A responsible headline...

Isn't that an oxymoron?

I was thinking more along the lines of a paradox.

If they were winning, the article would say how the different opinions have been good for the club, like Abraham Lincoln's "Team of Rivals". Sportswriting is easy.