Many, including some WFAN hosts, called Buck Showalter’s decision to ask umpires to check Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove for sticky substances before the sixth inning of Game 3 of the Mets-Padres NL Wild Card Series an act of desperation – but apparently, it wasn’t just a heat of the moment call.
According to Audacy MLB insider Jon Heyman, sources told him that Mets GM Billy Eppler messaged a league official about the situation prior to Showalter’s request, Eppler’s message “more inquiry than complaint at that point.”
In his column in the New York Post on Friday, Heyman said that Eppler had received several messages on his phone about Musgrove’s spin rates being up – perhaps spurred by social media suspicion of Musgrove’s ears appearing to be shiny – and quoted one Met as saying that a pitch Musgrove threw to Daniel Vogelbach was “the best pitch I’ve ever seen.”
Umpires found Musgrove to be clean, but as Heyman quoted a team source, Musgrove’s spin rates, already high for the game, continued to increase after the check, which kept the Mets suspicious.
Musgrove allowed just one hit over seven innings in the Padres’ 6-0 win, which eliminated the Mets. San Diego of course went on to defeat the Dodgers in the NLDS, and entered Friday tied 1-1 with the Phillies in the NLCS.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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