Column: Max Scherzer, who cheated the Dodgers in 2021, is at it again

Two seasons ago, Max Scherzer walked out on the Dodgers.

This time, on a glorious spring afternoon at Dodger Stadium, baseball tossed him out.

It was pleadingly loud. It was deeply controversial. It was poetic justice.

Two seasons ago, with the Dodgers desperately needing him to help them stave off elimination against the Atlanta Braves in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, Max Scherzer tapped out by claiming he had a tired arm.

This time, baseball tapped him out by claiming he had a sticky grip.

It was his first start against his former team since he cheated them, and he gets bounced for cheating and no, you can’t make this up.

There was indeed more than a good chunk of of schadenfreude roiling around Chavez Ravine on Wednesday afternoon when Scherzer, now pitching for the New York Mets, was thrown out of the game in the middle of the fourth inning for possessing a foreign substance on his right pitching hand.

It was a scoreless tie when he was tossed, and the Mets regrouped for a 5-3 victory against a clumsy Dodgers offense that rarely takes a smart hack. But Scherzer was the overriding story for many Dodgers fans who booed Scherzer’s entrance into the game and gasped in disbelief when he was ejected.

Those fans remember. The Dodgers remember. There’s no love lost between the pitcher and team he briefly inhabited in the final months of 2021.

It was strangely fitting to see him publicly embarrassed Wednesday in the same way he once embarrassed the Dodgers.

This time it happened during the game, after Scherzer had pitched three scoreless, one-hit innings.

After Scherzer’s second inning, first-base umpire Phil Cuzzi conducted a routine check and said his right hand felt sticky beyond the usual combination of water and resin, so Scherzer said he washed his hand and changed his glove under a major league official’s observation.

Two innings later, as Scherzer approached the mound to pitch the fourth, he was stopped before he reached the third-base line by Cuzzi and checked again. Soon, Cuzzi was seen shaking his head while Scherzer began pleading and gesturing with his bare hands. When Scherzer was officially tossed, he threw up his hands in visible frustration and eventually stalked back to the dugout.

Scherzer said the stickiness was because of a combination of legal rosin and old-fashioned sweat. Cuzzi said it felt like something more.

“Cuzzi said my hand is too sticky … I don’t get it,” said Scherzer. “Yes, when you use sweat and rosin your hand is sticky. … I don’t get how am I getting ejected when I’m in front of an MLB official doing exactly what you want and being deemed my hand is too sticky when I’m using a legal substance. I do not understand that.”

Scherzer said he pleaded with Cuzzi that common sense would prevent him from cheating here.

“I’d have to be an absolute idiot to try to do anything before coming back out for the fourth,” he said. “I said, ‘I swear on my kids’ lives I’m not using anything else, this is sweat and rosin, sweat and rosin.’ I kept saying it over and over.”

Dan Bellino, the crew chief, said Scherzer was ejected because his hand basically felt like Super Glue.

“Both Phil and I touched his hand,” said Bellino. “As far as stickiness, level of stickiness, this was the stickiest that it has been since I’ve been inspecting hands, which now goes back three seasons. Compared to the first inning, the level of stickiness, it was so sticky that when we touched his hand, our fingers were sticking to his hand. And whatever was on there remained on our fingers afterwards for a couple innings.”

New York Mets starter Max Max Scherzer (21) reacts after being ejected in the fourth inning of the game against the Dodgers on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

It was the first such ejection in nearly two years, and it was particularly poignant that it happened to Scherzer for more than one reason.

When baseball first began seriously cracking down on sticky stuff two seasons ago by checking every pitcher as they left the mound, Scherzer was one of the more outspoken opponents. In one of his starts, he unbuckled his belt during the inspection to make a mockery of the process.

Around this time, Scherzer was named in a Sports Illustrated story citing texts to former Angels visiting clubhouse manager Brian “Bubba” Harkins from a Washington Nationals staffer asking for some sticky stuff.

“Bubba, Max needs 2 batches please,” read one text from 2017.

Another text read, “Bubba, Max needs the stuff ASAP. He will pay for overnight shipping please.”

It is unknown whether his reputation led to his ejection. No matter the circumstances, the punishment could be harsh. Scherzer now faces an automatic 10-game suspension and chants of “cheater” wherever he pitches outside of Queens.

Many Dodgers fans might still prefer the chant of “quitter.”

Two years ago, if he could have just given them six strong innings on that October night in Atlanta, perhaps they could have survived and advanced to a winnable World Series against the hated Houston Astros.

But no. Preparing for a free-agent auction that landed him a $130-million contract with the Mets, Scherzer didn’t want to risk his arm.

This week, he told reporters the arm was “fried” after he came out of the bullpen for a save in the decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants. So facing a Game 6 against the Braves, he shamefully gave the start to a short-rested Walker Buehler, and the Dodgers were eliminated on the spot.

“I remember coming in that off day [before Game 6] and playing catch, and Mark [Prior, the Dodgers pitching coach] watching it,” Scherzer told reporters. “I said, ‘I’ll go if you want.’ But watching Walker throw, he was the better option. And that was the choice.”

It was a choice that will forever resound in the darkest corners of Dodgers history.

Poor Max Scherzer, going from one sticky situation to another.