NEW YORK – Truth be told, Florida Marlins reliever Chad Fox would fit in better with the Yankees.

Why? Because Fox despises the Red Sox, so much so that he wanted them to reach the World Series just so he could prove they erred by releasing him July 31.

“They gave up on me,” Fox said. “So (I wanted) to face them in the World Series and hopefully beat them, just to say, “I’m back.”‘

Fox needs no such pronouncements.

He made his point by posting a 2.13 earned-run average in 21 appearances in the season’s

final two months for the Marlins.

The 32-year-old right-hander appeared in just 17 games for the Red Sox, mostly because of a strained abdominal muscle. But even when he was healthy, Fox didn’t enjoy his time with the Red Sox.

“Instead of bringing out the positives, they really look at the negatives way too much,” he said. “It gets you second-guessing yourself. I’m not

going to say that’s the reason

I didn’t perform, but when

you make a big deal over

pitch selection over and over and over, you second-guess yourself out there. It’s really hard to perform at your

best.”

Fox said life with the Marlins couldn’t be more different, mostly because of manager Jack McKeon.

“He doesn’t expect us to strike everyone out,” Fox said. “He knows we’ll give up runs. He expects us to do the little things right, and that’s what we’ve done.”

And the Red Sox?

“I still have a lot of friends over there,” he said. “But it didn’t work out.”

It worked out for Fox.

AP-NY-10-19-03 2140EDT