National League Roundup : Specter of Illegal Bats Arises Again in Mets’ 7-6 Win; Ueberroth Acts

Howard Johnson’s dramatic power increase has everyone taking notice, including baseball’s authorities.

Johnson, whose previous career high was 12 homers, hit his 27th of the season Thursday night in the Mets’ 7-6 win over the Chicago Cubs at New York--and immediately had his bat confiscated by umpire John Kibler.

“Kibler said they were giving it to the National League office to be X-rayed,” Johnson said. “If it’s all right, which it is, I’ll get it back tomorrow.”

“To me, this is silly. If they’re trying to catch me, they are wasting their time. I told (Met Manager) Davey (Johnson), ‘Look let’s not even argue. Let’s just let them have the bat.’ ”

When Chicago’s Andre Dawson batted in the fourth inning, Davey Johnson asked that Dawson’s bat be checked, but plate umpire Charlie Williams refused. When Dawson hit his second home run of the game and 34th of the season, the Mets announced they were playing the game under protest.

That proved moot when they won.

“The rule states (that) if an umpire sees anything wrong with the bat or suspects anything wrong, he can take it out of the game,” Davey Johnson said. “There’s another directive floating around that any bat can be taken out of the game. (The umpire) doesn’t have to think it’s suspicious, you can just take it out of the game.”

It was the second time in eight days that one of Howard Johnson’s bats had been questioned. St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog was the first to call for an examination during a game at St. Louis July 30. In that game, Johnson hit a homer in the eighth inning.

“He (Herzog) has done a lot of complaining, and from what I understand, Hal Lanier (the Houston Astros manager) says I’m using a corked bat, too,” Howard Johnson said. “When I hit my 24th home run on the last day before the (All-Star) break off (Houston’s) Bob Knepper, I threw the bat over toward their dugout. I was trying to give them the bat and say, ‘Hey, if you want, cut it open right there.’ ”

Howard Johnson said he broke that bat during a weekend series in Montreal.

Earlier Thursday, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth said he has found “indications” that some players are using illegal bats, and said that, as of today, managers may ask umpires to impound the bat of one opposing player during a game.

“The time has come to inspect the bats in addition to the baseballs,” Ueberroth said in a written statement. “Our office and the league offices have received indications that bats have been tampered with, and there is no room for that kind of conduct in our game.”

Rich Levin, a spokesman for the commissioner, would not say what kind of evidence has been found or which players are involved.

If a player’s bat is found to be illegal, the player and his manager will be punished by the league president, Ueberroth said. The punishment could include fines and suspensions.

In addition to the two incidents involving Johnson, Pedro Guerrero of the Dodgers had a bat confiscated recently. In Guerrero’s case, as in the first Johnson incident, the bats were found to be legal.

In Thursday night’s game, Darryl Strawberry hit a pair of home runs, giving him 27 for the season, as the Mets built a 5-2 lead, but New York needed a run-scoring single by Kevin McReynolds in the ninth inning to beat the Cubs and their ace reliever, Lee Smith (3-7).

Roger McDowell (7-3) picked up the victory despite allowing a leadoff homer to Keith Moreland that tied the score, 6-6, in the eighth.

St. Louis 5, Philadelphia 2--John Tudor posted his first victory in nearly four months at Philadelphia as the Cardinals handed the Phillies their sixth straight defeat.

Tudor (3-1), making his second start since recovering from a broken leg suffered April 19, allowed 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked none in 5 innings. Todd Worrell got two outs for his 23rd save.

Willie McGee and Terry Pendleton drove in two runs each for St. Louis, and Vince Coleman got his 70th stolen base.

Philadelphia’s Chris James hit his 12th homer in the fifth.

Montreal 6, Pittsburgh 3--Tim Wallach drove in the tying run with an eighth-inning single, and Andres Galarraga’s force-out allowed the go-ahead run to score as the Expos beat the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

Jeff Parrett (3-3) pitched two scoreless innings of relief to get the victory.

Bobby Bonilla’s bases-empty home run in the sixth, his 10th, gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead before the Expos rallied against Jim Gott (1-1).

San Diego 7, Atlanta 4--Benito Santiago’s infield single drove in the tie-breaking run with two out in the ninth inning, and Garry Templeton added a two-run single as the Padres turned back the Braves at Atlanta.

Goose Gossage picked up his 287th save, moving him past Bruce Sutter into second place on the all-time list behind Rollie Fingers with 341.

Atlanta’s Dale Murphy hit a pair of bases-empty home runs and has 30 homers for the season.

National League batting leader Tony Gwynn had four hits for the Padres and raised his average to .366.