Donnelly Is Expected to Get 10-Day Suspension

When the commissioner’s office confirms the presence of pine tar on Brendan Donnelly’s glove from Tuesday night’s game, Bob Watson, baseball’s discipline czar, is expected to slap Donnelly with a 10-day suspension, a penalty that will put a severe strain on the back end of a bullpen that has been stretched thin for weeks.

Section 3.02 of Major League Baseball’s official rules calls for an automatic 10-day suspension for doctoring baseballs, and Watson, who hadn’t received the glove as of Wednesday afternoon, made it clear that Donnelly’s infraction would fall under Section 3.02 guidelines.

Watson, reached by phone in New York, first declined to comment on the matter, saying it was “under investigation,” but when asked if Donnelly’s sentence might be mitigated by the fact the right-hander did not throw a pitch before being ejected in the seventh inning against Washington, Watson said, “You should read Rule 3.02.”

Told the reporter was aware of the rule and its accompanying 10-day suspension, Watson said, “There you go. You know the rule. You’ll see. I’ll make a determination in a couple of days. Maybe even sooner than that.”

At that point, Donnelly can either serve the suspension or appeal it, though at best, he might get the penalty reduced to eight days, as St. Louis reliever Julian Tavarez did last season after he was caught using a foreign substance on a ball.

There is clear precedent: Since 1980, excluding Tavarez, at least four pitchers received 10-day suspensions for having a “foreign substance” on their gloves or persons -- Seattle’s Rick Honeycutt, who was found with a thumbtack taped to his finger and sandpaper attached to the tape in 1980; Philadelphia’s Kevin Gross, who had sandpaper glued in his glove in 1987; Minnesota’s Joe Niekro, who was caught with an emery board and sandpaper on the Angel Stadium mound in 1987, and Detroit’s Brian Moehler, who had sandpaper taped to the thumb of his pitching hand in 1999.

Dodger reliever Jay Howell was ejected from a National League championship series game against the Mets in 1988 for having pine tar on his glove and suspended for two more playoff games.

Though Donnelly is not a member of the MLB Players Assn. because he served as a replacement player during the 1994-95 work stoppage, the union would still represent the reliever in an appeal.

Union chief Don Fehr said Donnelly is not entitled to the financial benefits of union membership -- namely, the $20,000 check players receive each spring for licensing revenues -- but is entitled the due process benefits afforded other players.

No matter the length of the suspension, it’s clear the Angels will have to spend some time in the near future without Donnelly, who entered Wednesday with a 4-2 record and 4.34 earned-run average and is one of three relievers, along with Francisco Rodriguez and Scot Shields, whom Manager Mike Scioscia trusts with small, late-inning leads.

Donnelly’s loss would mean more prominent late-inning roles for right-hander Joel Peralta, whose shrinking ERA (0.84 in nine games entering Wednesday) has led to more meaningful innings; right-hander Esteban Yan, who has a 4.56 ERA but has been inconsistent and unreliable in tight games, and left-hander Jake Woods.

“It doesn’t help us because it takes a key guy out of the bullpen,” starter Jarrod Washburn said. “We’re going to need some other guys to step up.”

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Emotions might have gotten the best of Shields on Tuesday night, when the right-hander entered after Donnelly’s ejection and gave up four runs -- two unearned -- in the eighth inning of a 6-3 loss to the Nationals.

“In my mind, I thought, they wanted Brendan out of the game, OK, I’m going to [stick it to them],” said Shields, Donnelly’s closest friend on the team. “It didn’t work out that way. I had a fire lit under me. I was [ticked] off that Brendan was called out.”

Shields, however, did not object to Jose Guillen’s reaction after the former Angel, who was suspended for the final eight games of last season because of insubordination, hit a tying two-run home run in the eighth. Guillen flipped his bat in the air and was yelling as he rounded the bases.

“I know he was screaming a little bit, but hey, he just hit a big home run against the team that suspended him last year, and he’s an emotional guy,” Shields said.

“I had no problem with it.”