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MLB suspends Donnelly for pine tar
June 17, 2005
Angels manager Mike Scioscia and Nationals manager Frank Robinson
were suspended for one game apiece and fined. The managers screamed at
each other after Robinson had umpires inspect Donnelly's glove for a
foreign substance in the top of the seventh inning during the Nationals'
6-3 victory Tuesday.
Donnelly was ejected without throwing a pitch, and Scioscia then came
face-to-face with Robinson. Both benches emptied, and several players
pushed and shoved each other.
Donnelly appealed the suspension and will play until a decision is made
following his hearing, which is scheduled for next Friday in Anaheim.
Robinson also appealed his suspension, and his case will be heard on
Monday.
Scioscia voiced no complaints about his fine and suspension, which he
served Friday night when the Angels hosted the Florida Marlins. Bench
coach Joe Maddon filled in for him.
"I'll probably be upstairs or in the clubhouse. Things will probably run
smoother," Scioscia said, grinning.
Donnelly thought he deserved to be disciplined, saying, "A rule's a
rule," but he believed 10 days was excessive.
"I don't have any anger. I'm not denying the fact that I had some pine
tar on my glove. I did," he said before the series opener against the
Marlins. "But similar circumstances with other players have resulted in
lesser lengths in penalties. I'm not using it to cheat."
Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Jay Howell was suspended for two games
during the 1988 NL Championship series against the New York Mets after
he was found to have pine tar on his glove. Scioscia was the Dodgers'
catcher then, but wasn't in the game when Howell was ejected.
Robinson, in Texas for the Nationals' game against the Rangers, thought
the penalties levied against him were "overkill."
Although he did not say how much he was fined, Robinson said: "The fine
and suspension are too severe. Nothing else happened, even though the
players came out on the field."
Donnelly, 4-2 with a 4.34 ERA this season, feels he's letting his team
down.
"There more than likely some period of time that goes by that I won't be
in the bullpen to help the guys in the pen and our team," he said. "And
for that, I apologize to our team and our organization. But at the same
time, I think they're on my side."
Donnelly has drawn considerable attention from umpires recently. White
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen complained in Chicago that the Angels'
right-hander was putting his hand to his mouth on the mound. Then in
Boston, umpires made Donnelly take a ball out of his hip pocket, which
he had forgotten to do when he left the bullpen.
"I feel that this hopefully is the end of a bizarre three weeks for me,"
Donnelly said. "People tell me things happen in threes, and this will be
the third one. The Ozzie Guillen thing got blown up a little bit more
than it should have.
"The ball in the pocket was just me forgetting I had it back there. It
was a good baseball moment, I guess, and I got a few laughs, but by no
means was I trying to cheat."
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