With Tabloids Humming, Lo Duca Hits Away

San Diego Padres' Ben Johnson reacts after striking out to end the game as New York Mets' catcher Paul Lo Duca heads toward the pitchers mound in the ninth inning of baseball action Wednesday Aug. 9, 2006 at New York's Shea Stadium. The Mets won the game 4-3.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) (Frank Franklin Ii - AP)

On the field, there have been no problems.

Lo Duca's homer was his first since May 13. Going into the game, he'd been the top hitter in the majors since July 1 _ the day after his wife filed for divorce. Lo Duca batted .413 in that span, the Elias Sports Bureau said, and clearly emerged as a leader on the team with the best record in the National League.

Lo Duca had dodged reporters since holding a press conference Tuesday at Shea. Flanked by teammates Tom Glavine and David Wright, Lo Duca said he bet on horses through an online account but did not have a gambling problem. He also said he wished the best for his wife and their young daughter.

"There's more written than I thought would be written," he said on WFAN radio the same day. "There shouldn't be anything else. There are no skeletons in the closet. Nothing."

The next day, the New York Post blazed a picture of his bikini-wearing wife, who once appeared in a "Sexy Girl Next Door" magazine layout, opposite a shot of the teenager who claimed she had a fling with Lo Duca.

In between was the young woman's supposed note to pals in mid-July _ about three months after she met him at an "18 and Over Night" at a bar. In her e-mail, she said "fabulous boyfriend Paul and I just got back from an ammazing (sic) vacation in the caribean (sic)."

On Wednesday, Mets teammate Billy Wagner tried to ease the mood. Walking and talking in plain view, he said into a cell phone, "Gimme 20 on the Mets."

A four-time All-Star, the 34-year-old Lo Duca is no stranger to dustups. He had a run-in with Cleveland's volatile Milton Bradley in 2003 and shouted at Alex Rodriguez when the Yankees slugger tossed his bat after hitting a grand slam in a Subway Series game in July.

But dealing with all the attention in New York is a new experience, even for the Brooklyn-born Lo Duca. And certainly it's never been quite so public, not like the night he saw Todd Hundley's wife go wild in the Shea lobby.

Cleveland third baseman Aaron Boone _ also married to a former Playboy model _ remembers the advice he got from manager Joe Torre after being traded to the Yankees in July 2003.

"One of the first things Joe told me when I got there was, 'Don't read papers and don't listen to talk shows,'" Boone said Friday. "That's a little tough because there are tons of media outlets in New York. The biggest thing for me is that there is a constant tug on you for your time."

"There was nothing ever personal about me while I was there. Then again, I didn't pay attention to it, like Joe said, so maybe there was and I didn't know it," he said. "You definitely are much more under the microscope there."

___

AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich in Washington and AP freelance writer Chuck Murr in Cleveland contributed to this story.