Mets pitcher Drew Smith suspended 10 games for sticky substance - ESPN

NEW YORK — New York Mets pitcher Drew Smith was suspended for 10 games by Major League Baseball on Wednesday, the fifth pitcher and second on his team penalized for using banned sticky stuff.

The penalty was announced by MLB senior vice president for on-field operations Michael Hill, one day after Smith entered in the seventh inning of a Subway Series game against the Yankees at Citi Field and was ejected without throwing a pitch.

Smith has the right to appeal the discipline to John McHale Jr., a special assistant to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

«They said both of my hands were too sticky,» Smith said following the Mets' 7-6 loss. «Really surprised, because I haven't done anything different all year. Sweat and rosin. I don't know what else to say. Nothing changed. It's just, I think the process is so arbitrary. It can change from one crew to the other and I think that's the main issue.»

Smith was stopped for a routine check as he reached the infield. Within moments, several umpires and teammates were huddled around the right-hander, and Mets manager Buck Showalter came out of the dugout to join the discussion.

Smith held out his pitching hand and pleaded his case, but he was ejected by first base umpire Bill Miller, the crew chief. New York will be a player short during the suspension.

«Drew Smith was ejected because he had sticky hands,» Miller told a pool reporter. «I don't know what's on his hand, all I know it was sticky — sticky to the touch. It stuck to my hands when I touched it. Not only his pitching hand, but his glove hand as well.»

Miller said Smith's hand was the stickiest he's felt this season, and that the other three umpires agreed.

«I think if something's sticky, it's illegal,» Miller said. «They