PHILADELPHIA – Joe Torre had a front row seat for Mariano Rivera for 12 seasons. He said the accusations of the Yankees closer throwing a spitball don’t wash with the man he knows.

“I’ve been around him for 12 years,” Torre said. “He’s top-notch for me. I didn’t see any of it, I just heard some people talk about it. Evidently he was off the mound, and that’s all legal stuff as long as you remember it or wipe it or whatever. But as I say, I didn’t see the video. But Mariano Rivera is above and beyond for me. As I said, I can’t comment because I didn’t see it. But the individual for me is ace, No. 1.”

Torre and the Dodgers had an off day in their NLCS with the Phillies, which they trail 3-1. Several other members of the Dodgers’ staff who know Rivera found the cheating charge impossible to believe.

“I know Mariano so well,” said hitting coach Don Mattingly, who was a teammate of Rivera’s for one season and on the coaching staff of the Yankees for four years. “The last thing he’s doing is throwing a spitball.”

Mattingly questioned why a pitcher would even use saliva when there are more effective ways to doctor a ball.

“Honestly, guys are using tar, resin, anything they can to get a better feel for the ball and just moisture on your hands is nothing really,” he said.

There may not be anyone who caught Rivera for than Dodgers bullpen catcher Mike Borzello, who held that job with the Yankees under Torre.

“I caught Mariano for 12 years,” Borzello said. “I never saw him spit on his hands in the bullpen and the ball did the same thing down there that it did when you guys saw it.”

Third base coach Larry Bowa was around Rivera for two years as a coach with the Yankees. He called the claims, “totally bogus.”

“I have never ever, ever heard anyone say anything about Mo doing something like that,” Bowa said. “If that was true I would have heard about it from somebody and I have never heard anything like that.”

Additional reporting by George A. King III