Mets Catch Whitson in a Cap Controversy, Knock Off Padres, 10-3

Ed Whitson tips his cap to New York Met fans, but he would like to throw his cap at Vern Hoscheit.

Hoscheit is the Mets’ 65-year-old bullpen coach, who blew the whistle on Whitson Wednesday night. Whitson, in his first game here since he was traded by the New York Yankees last June, threw pretty well in the first inning, but Met Manager Davey Johnson came rushing out of the dugout in the second inning, asking home plate umpire Doug Harvey to inspect Whitson’s cap.

Hoscheit, who says he has taught pitchers how to cheat for 47 years, had noticed a spot on the bill of Whitson’s cap and figured Whitson was using a foreign substance to throw spitballs or a variation of them. Hoscheit told Johnson, who told Harvey, who asked Whitson to get a new cap.

Whitson had been nervous enough about playing in front of New York fans who he said had threatened his life when he played for the Yankees. Now this? He ran in, borrowed teammate Lance McCullers’ cap and then couldn’t stop another scoring threat by the Mets in an eventual 10-3 Padre loss, in which Larry Bowa was ejected.

“It unnerved me,” Whitson said of Hoscheit’s move. “It worked.”

Whitson (4-6) did take a no-hitter into the fourth inning, but he took a beating thereafter. Former Padre Kevin McReynolds doubled to break up the no-hitter. Whitson said he then pitched around dangerous Darryl Strawberry to get to catcher Gary Carter, but Carter singled to left-center. Padre center fielder Stan Jefferson kicked the ball a couple feet before he could pick it up, and two runs came in.

By then, Met fans were chanting “Eddie! Eddie!” But that’s as bad as the taunting got. It was the Padres who suddenly turned ugly again.

Whitson walked third baseman Howard Johnson and then gave up a long two-run double to light-hitting shortstop Rafael Santana. Center fielder Len Dykstra singled in Santana, tried to steal second and ended up on third when catcher Benito Santiago’s throw went into center field. Padre shortstop Luis Salazar--replacing the injured Garry Templeton--then booted Wally Backman’s ground ball, scoring Dykstra.

All in all, Whitson and the Padres had given up six runs, made three errors and trailed 6-2.

In the sixth, the Mets’ Johnson hit a home run off the first pitch by reliever Greg Booker. He also gave an unearned run in the seventh after Santiago threw another ball into center field after another stolen base attempt.

Then, in the eighth, with the Padres trailing by five, reliever Goose Gossage gave up the final two Met runs.

By that time, Bowa was nowhere to be seen. With one out and the bases loaded in the seventh, Padre left fielder John Kruk had grounded a ball to Met first baseman Keith Hernandez. Hernandez threw to Santana for the force at second, and Santana threw back to reliever Terry Leach, who was covering first.

Leach’s foot was off first base as he caught it. Just as he moved to step on the base, on came Kruk.

First base umpire Dick Stello called Kruk out to end the inning. Kruk jumped up and down in dispute. First base coach Sandy Alomar joined in the war dance. And out came Bowa, who was still angry that Stello had called out Jefferson stealing in an important situation in the previous night’s loss.

Bowa said his first words to Stello were: “That’s two you’ve missed.”

And, according to Bowa, Stello answered: “You’re out of here!”

Later, Bowa was amazed he had been ejected so quickly.

“No swear words or nothing,” he said.

Bowa didn’t leave the playing field swiftly. He argued through two Shea Stadium songs--”Take Me Out To The Ballgame” and “New York, New York”--and that’s when he said he began spewing curse words. He finally left to a chorus of jeers.

But, as far as Whitson is concerned, Met fans are warmer than Yankee fans.

He had prefered not to pitch in New York at all, but he says he realizes now that he had no reason to worry.

“No one said anything harsh,” Whitson said afterward. “It was like a whole new New York.”

But he says Hoscheit spoiled his party.

“He says I cheat? If I see him, I’ll get him,” Whitson said.

Whitson explained that the spot on his cap was simply from the pine resin he uses to keep his pitching hand dry. He says he tugs at his cap after every pitch, a habit he developed because his cap kept falling off early in his career, and the spot just got bigger.

“They thought they had something, but they didn’t,” Whitson said of Mets’ accusation. “If I had something, I wouldn’t put it on my hat. That’s like putting a U.S. flag up there and saying, ‘Here I am. Come and get me.’ ”

Still, Met Manager Johnson says Harvey was correct in removing the cap because no foreign substance is allowed on any part of the uniform.

Hoscheit, who once served as the spring training chauffeur for the late Yankee Manager Casey Stengel, said pine resin can be combined with other foreign substances, which Whitson could have stashed elsewhere, and cause a sticky effect on the ball.

“I know what he (Whitson) was doing,” Hoscheit said. “He’s not going to admit it because he’s still an active player. But I won’t let him do it against us if I can detect it. . . . If he claims he didn’t use anything, that’s fine. But he touched his hat in the same place every time.

“I don’t care what he says. I was the bullpen coach at the All-Star Game in 1973 when Gaylord Perry said he didn’t cheat. But I got a phone call from Perry right before the game, and he said: ‘It takes me five minutes to put this stuff on.’ ”

Whitson was really steamed about Hoscheit’s comments.

“New York,” he said. “It’s always something.”

Padre Notes Shortstop Garry Templeton, who sat out Wednesday’s game, is expected to miss as many as three games with a sore left knee and left hamstring. “My knee has been sore for a couple days,” Templeton said. “Actually, it’s my hamstring that’s really sore. When I favored my knee, I ended up hurting my hamstring. It’s been bothering me a couple days, so I decided to rest it. But I shall return! I ain’t through yet.” Padre General Manager Jack McKeon has talked about trading Templeton to the New York Yankees, but it’s unclear whether the injury will affect trade talks. . . . Former Padre Terry Kennedy, now with the Baltimore Orioles, was playing his first game against former Padre Manager Dick Williams in Seattle Monday night, and Kennedy made it a point to walk up and say hello to Williams. According to a Washington Post account, Kennedy greeted Williams by sticking his hand out for a shake. Williams accepted the handshake, but mumbled only a couple of words and walked away. “Let’s not get into that,” Kennedy said of his relationship with Williams. “I try not to think about it. Our differences have been well documented. I do regret some of the things I said, but I was younger and brasher then. I can’t take them back, and there’s no use compounding the problem. Dick taught me a lot, and I can look at their team (in Seattle) and see he’s teaching them.” . . . Pitcher Eric Show was asked Tuesday night if he would “like a change of venue?” He answered yes, but he said Wednesday that was in no way a demand for a trade. “I don’t want to leave,” he said. “The chemistry on this team is as good as it has been, as good as 1984. I love Jack McKeon, and I love San Diego. But things have been consistently unfavorable for me. The intangible things. And they’ve been very hard to deal with. Sometimes if you get in a whole new environment, (negative) things disappear.” Specifically, Show says he has had very poor run support in his career with the Padres. “I’m not crying,” Show said. “But Jack McKeon backs me up because he notices these things. The average person says ‘Eric’s no good,’ and on paper, they might be right. But Jack says I can win 20 games some day.”