Mets' David Robertson shares odd claim about sticky-stuff ejection

Drew Smith wasn't the only New York Mets relief pitcher stopped for a thorough "sticky-stuff" evaluation during Tuesday's 7-6 loss to the New York Yankees.

"He felt like my hands were sticky," David Robertson told Tim Healey of Newsday about an encounter the Mets closer had with crew chief Bill Miller on Tuesday. "And I told him that his hands felt sticky. I said, I have absolutely nothing on me. I’ve done nothing but grab the rosin bag." 

Miller ejected Smith before the reliever delivered a pitch in the top of the seventh inning of Tuesday's encounter at Citi Field after the umpire determined the 29-year-old's hands were too sticky. A seemingly shocked Smith asked teammates to examine his hands on the field and later said an MLB official acknowledged "there was nothing there" worthy of an ejection. 

Smith nevertheless received a 10-game suspension and an undisclosed fine. Barring postponements, he'll be eligible to return on June 26 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

"We were just having a conversation about it," Robertson continued. "I was like, you can search me wherever you want to. I have nothing on my body that is not given to me by MLB … There was no foreign substance on my hands. The fact that I was even told that was shocking."

Robertson echoed comments offered by Mets manager Buck Showalter on Wednesday and said he understands Miller was "just trying to do his job." What is, however, unclear is why Robertson wasn't tossed and why Smith wasn't allowed to attempt to clean his hands after Mets co-ace Max Scherzer was permitted to reportedly wash "with alcohol in front of" an MLB official before he was ultimately thrown out of a game at the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 19. 

"I don’t know if this whole setup is the right way to go about this," Robertson added about the system MLB uses to determine ejections related to the use of foreign substances. 

Along with Smith and Scherzer, two Triple-A Syracuse Mets pitchers were thrown out of games in May for "sticky-stuff" violations.