ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly was suspended 10 days by major league baseball on Friday for having pine tar on his glove during a game against the Washington Nationals.

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.”

AP-ES-06-17-05 2107EDT

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