Whispers: Did Derek Lowe's Past Hurt Him With the Mets?

File this one under "whispers", but there is a bit of chatter out there speculating that Derek Lowe's past, which includes a history of marital infidelity and problems with alcohol, may have hurt his chances with the Mets from the start.

In 2005, Derek Lowe walked out on his wife and their children...and he did it by phone.

In a widely reported story, Lowe's wife told of her heartbreak and the TV news reporter who was in the middle of the firestorm. A reporter who, at the time, just happened to cover the Dodgers.

Derek Lowe has abandoned his heartbroken wife and kids and moved in with a TV reporter who covers his new team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That's according to Trinka Lowe, Derek's wife of seven years and the mother of their three kids, who said her husband has left her for Fox Sports Net's Carolyn Hughes.

"This is definitely the worst time of my life,'' Trinka told the Track. ``I don't even know how to describe it. I still love him. He's still the father of our children. But I don't want this to be glamorized like some other relationships that didn't start out so well. I don't want this to be portrayed as `They were there for each other when his marriage fell apart.' That's not true. The marriage fell apart because of this other person.''

Trinka said she made FSN aware of the relationship and a representative promised to investigate. A spokesman for the network said yesterday that Hughes, who hosts the FSN pregame show, ``Dodgers Dugout,'' has been taken off the beat pending the outcome of that inquiry.

``As soon as we were made aware by Mrs. Lowe that a potential problem existed we removed Carolyn from covering the Dodgers,'' Lou D'Ermilio told us. ``At present we're investigating to determine whether a conflict of interest did exist and beyond that we can't comment on a personnel issue.''

Hughes did not return our calls. For that matter, neither did Lowe's agent, Scott Boras. And Dodgers spokesman John Olguin declined to comment on the mound man's marital mess.

``A player's home life is personal,'' he said, ``and as such the Dodgers will not comment.''

But Trinka, who still lives in Fort Myers, Fla., said she knew something was wrong with her marriage as soon as she returned to the Beverly Hills home she and Derek bought after he was signed by the Dodgers.

``I went out to L.A. when the kids finished school, just like I used to do every year when we were in Boston,'' Trinka said. ``But when I got there I felt like something was a little odd. Of course, I hadn't seen him in a while and it usually takes him a few days to adjust to me and the kids.

``Anyway, he left on a road trip and he called me from the road and said, `I'm not happy and I can't do this anymore.' It was right out of the blue. I said `Whatever the problems are let's work it out. I will do anything, let's go to counseling, we have these kids.' And he said, `I don't want to work it out. I'm through.' ''

Trinka, who was with Derek for 11 years, said her hubby's reluctance to try to repair the relationship made her think that ``there was someone else involved.''

"He told me he wanted me gone when he got back from the next road trip,'' she said.

Trinka said she told her husband that she was going to wait four days to leave because she had invited friends from Boston and her brother to visit.

"So when he got back from the trip he went and moved in with her,'' she said.

Trinka said she knows this because when Derek came over to see the kids, he was driving Hughes' car, and when he left, Trinka had him followed.

"He went to her house and spent the night there,'' she said. ``He's now living there.''

Trinka said she went to Hughes' Manhattan Beach apartment and confronted her but the sports reporter denied that there was anything improper going on. She insisted that she and Lowe were ``just friends,'' Trinka said.

``They deny the relationship. She told me Derek sleeps on her couch and that she does this for all her friends.''

But Trinka did some snooping and found Hughes' number in Derek's cell phone under the name ``Jeff.'' She said she also knows that her hubby chartered a private jet to take him and his galpal to the All-Star Game in Detroit. And if she needed any more proof, incriminating pictures of the pair appeared on an L.A.-based media critic's Web site earlier this week, pictures that Trinka insists she knows nothing about.

Additionally, Lowe is reported to be a big drinker, and the habit extends to night's before he pitches.

"He has a drinking problem,'' said Someone close to the ex-Sox hurler. ``And a lot of his problems come when he drinks. And he wouldn't deal with it and that's why the Red Sox wouldn't re-sign him.''

Rumors about Lowe's womanizing and drinking have been out there for years. At one point, he upset the Boston Red Sox owner John Henry by bringing a woman--not his wife--to a team function.

Lowe was told that the family-oriented Henry would be upset that he'd be so bold as to show up with a girlfriend,. But Lowe thought he knew better.

"He's a guy, he'll understand,'' Lowe said.

Apparently, he didn't. In the small baseball fraternity that is the major leagues, this type of behavior doesn't fly with everyone, and that may include the family-oriented Wilpons and Omar Minaya.