DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997               TAG: 9704220263

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   61 lines

ISRINGHAUSEN'S SEASON GOES IN THE TRASH CAN

Jason Isringhausen, who began this season with the Norfolk Tides on a 30-day, major league rehabilitation stint, will miss the next six to eight weeks with a compression fracture in the wrist of his pitching hand.

The 24-year-old New York Mets pitcher sustained the break punching a plastic trash can in the tunnel behind the Tides' dugout 11 days ago. Isringhausen's temper got the best of him after he gave up a triple and a home run in the first inning of a game against the Toledo Mud Hens.

The righthander pitched six more innings against Toledo that night, giving up seven hits, walking four and striking out four and had a no decision in the Tides' 4-3 victory in 11 innings.

Isringhausen will be able to offer little, if any, help to the Mets' maligned pitching staff. The incident raises questions about Isringhausen's responsibility level, which was already in doubt coming out of spring training.

The New York Times is reporting in today's editions that Mets manager Bobby Valentine, acting on an anonymous phone tip, caught Isringhausen playing in an adult softball league in Stuart, Fla., near the end of February during the Mets' own spring training camp in nearby Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Isringhausen was playing for Silouettes, a team sponsored by a topless club of the same name, and a Silouettes teammate estimated that he hit nine home runs in 12 at-bats while mostly playing first base and designated hitter.

``I'm not calling him an idiot,'' Valentine told a New York Times reporter. ``But it was an idiot thing to do.''

Isringhausen, who had elbow and shoulder surgery in late September, was assigned to the Tides to begin the season and was initially expected to be in Norfolk a month.

Initial x-rays following the game 11 days ago did not reveal a break. But when the swelling in his wrist did not subside, Mets officials decided to fly Isringhausen from Rochester, where the Tides are on an eight-game road trip, to New York for further tests.

Mets hand specialist Dr. Richard Eaton performed bone scans on the hand Monday at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan and estimated Isringhausen would be in a cast for four weeks, at which time the wrist would be re-evaluated. Isringhausen is probably out of action until July or August.

In his two starts with Norfolk, Isringhausen was 0-1 with a 4.85 earned run average. In 13 innings he'd allowed 15 hits, walked seven and struck out eight.

Following the news, Isringhausen was lectured at length by club officials, then was prodded by Valentine to meet the press.

``I screwed up,'' Isringhausen told reporters afterward. ``What else can I say?''

Isringhausen said he knew, given the Mets' current plight, that this latest development would put additional pressure on general manager Joe McIlvaine.

``This will add fuel to the fire,'' Isringhausen said. ``I'm not embarrassed. I lost control for that brief instant. I wasn't the first and I won't be the last.''

``Nobody feels as bad as Jason,'' McIlvaine said. ``What's done is done. Let's just hope he comes back quickly.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

``I screwed up. What else can I say?'' Jason Isringhausen said

Monday.

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