A LATE THROW : Met Coach Implies That Shelby May Have Been Napping

In answer to your first question, yes, John Shelby did the right thing by diving.

Sure, the Dodger center fielder ended that ninth-inning dive with a splat Tuesday night as he dropped Gary Carter’s fly ball and gave the Mets a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of the National League championship series.

But it’s right there in the rules, the ones written in the psyche of every major league outfielder:

Two out, fly ball, tying run scoring, you dive.

“Man doesn’t dive, tomorrow morning he wakes up and second-guesses himself from 9 till next year,” Met center fielder Mookie Wilson said.

Forget that first question, because there is a second one that should be asked, about something that cost the Dodgers much more than the dive, the thing that actually cost them the game.

What was Shelby thinking about after the dive?

At least one man thought Shelby wasn’t thinking about what he should have been thinking about. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, that man was Met third base coach Sam Perlozzo.

He’s the one who sent Kevin McReynolds home with the winning run after Darryl Strawberry had scored the tying run, even though McReynolds began the play on first base, and the ball never went any farther than medium center field.

Perlozzo said that after the miss, Shelby chased after the ball as if he did not think McReynolds would be attempting to score. He guessed the reason Shelby then double-pumped before throwing home was not because of a slippery grip, but out of sheer surprise.

Perlozzo said if Shelby had chased after the ball as if the winning run was at stake, McReynolds would not have been sent.

“If I had seen Shelby go after the ball like he could make the play, I would have held (McReynolds),” Perlozzo said. “When the ball went off Shelby’s glove, McReynolds wasn’t anywhere near me, he was still back around second base. Then he took off.”

Perlozzo implied that, quite simply, the Mets caught Shelby napping.

“I don’t want to say he wasn’t running hard after the ball, I have no idea,” Perlozzo said. “But from what I read of the way he moved, he didn’t think there would be another play. It looked to me like he thought the play was dead.

“You always hope to catch somebody by surprise, to catch somebody asleep. Sometimes it works out.”

Shelby, who may remember Tuesday night from here till Vero Beach, said what he didn’t remember what he did after the dive.

“I don’t remember what I did, I just ran and picked up the ball and saw the man trying to score and threw it,” he said. “I did what I was supposed to do. It happened just like that, I can’t remember it in detail.”

He was asked about the double pump.

“I don’t remember it . . . I may have pumped once, twice, three times, I don’t keep track of that stuff,” he said.

All which would have been forgiven if his throw home, strong and a bit off line, wasn’t just a bit late.

“The ball may have arrived a split second after (McReynolds) did,” said catcher Mike Scioscia, who was body-slammed by McReynolds as the ball bounced away. “The ball was up the line a little bit, and then after it bounced it just faded.”

The polite but quiet Shelby so dislikes media hordes, that he snuck out of batting practice Monday through a back gate to avoid questioners. There was no avoiding them Tuesday.

“I made a diving attempt at it, the ball hit off my glove, I missed it,” Shelby said.

He was asked if he thought he could catch it. “That’s why I dove,” he said. “I’ve got to play the game the same way I’ve always played it. If I think I have a chance, I’ve diving for it. If the tying run is going to score, I’m not going to stand around looking at it.”

He was asked if he was fooled by the ball.

“If I was fooled, I would have ran back,” he said. “I was there, I could have caught it, because it hit off my glove. I just didn’t.”