Donnelly gives Guillen the brush-off

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff  |  April 12, 2007

Brendan Donnelly waved off an invitation from Mariners outfielder Jose Guillen to settle their differences a la Dempsey and Tunney, the Jets and Sharks, or Tyson and Holyfield.

"You know what you make of that?" Donnelly said yesterday. "It's the same old Jose, that's what you make of it. The same song and dance."

Guillen, who objected to an apparent staredown from Donnelly after the Sox reliever struck him out on three pitches and was ejected for his troubles, had a lot to say after Tuesday's game, in which Donnelly also was tossed when he hit the next batter, Kenji Johjima.

"If he wants to take care of his problem, the clubhouses are pretty close," Guillen was quoted as saying. "He can just send one of the bat boys to come get me outside, and then we'll take care of this as men. He's got to be man enough to hit me and not the catcher."

Donnelly smiled tightly when the quotes were relayed to him.

"You know," he said, "a comparable quote would be, 'Meet me at the bike rack after school.' That's pretty much all I got."

Donnelly and Guillen were teammates on the 2004 Angels, both playing a key role in their run to the American League West title that season. But with just days left in the regular season, Guillen was suspended for insubordination, the team electing to compete in the playoffs without him, even though he'd hit .294 with 27 home runs and 104 RBIs.

The following year, with Guillen having moved on to the Nationals, he was the one who tipped off Washington manager Frank Robinson that Donnelly had pine tar in his glove. Donnelly was suspended 10 days (the penalty was later reduced to eight). Tuesday's game was the first time the two had faced each other since.

After the Angels suspended Guillen in 2004, they faced the Red Sox in the first round of the playoffs and were bounced in three games. How much did Guillen's absence hurt?

"I'm not going to say he's not a good player -- he is a good player," Donnelly said. "Coming in and not having him against Boston, Boston's offense at the time you probably were looking at some runs being put up on the board and we'd have to keep up. He was a .300 hitter, 100-plus RBIs, 20-something home runs. Take that bat out of the lineup, you're taking a main part of the offense away going into the playoffs.

"Yeah, his bat would have definitely been a positive in the playoffs. Would it have changed anything? I don't know."

But Donnelly took exception to the perception that he somehow played a role in Guillen's suspension.

"It wasn't like [there was] a team meeting or anything," Donnelly said. "It was an organizational call. As players, we had to support the organization.

"I wasn't called into [manager Mike Scioscia's] office. He may have gone to some guys, but I didn't have any pull in the clubhouse. I was a unit, a part of the team, but I didn't have any pull in that clubhouse. When people think I was one of guys who stood out and was saying get rid of him, a major voice, all these quotes that came out are a bunch of [expletive]. I wasn't."

Guillen was loudly booed when he came to bat in the second inning last night. He lined a single off the left-field wall, and after Kenji Johjima's double, scored on Yuniesky Betancourt's sacrifice fly, clapping vigorously after he beat Jason Varitek's tag. In Guillen's next at-bat, Daisuke Matsuzaka hit him in the front elbow with a fastball; Guillen dropped his bat and ran to first base.

Manager Terry Francona, when told of Guillen's "strident" remarks, said: "I've been with Guillen. I was with him in Oakland. Everything he does is strident."

Johnny Pesky was sitting in his familiar corner of the clubhouse yesterday afternoon, just inside the door. And while he tried to make light of the fact that he is now barred by Major League Baseball directive from sitting in the dugout -- "It's not as bad as it sounds" -- he also made it clear he didn't understand the rationale behind the decision.

"Why wouldn't they want people like me around?" he said.

Pesky said there will be times he'll watch the game from the Legends Suite. Where was he planning to watch last night's game? "With Joe," he said, referring to Joe Flanagan, the longtime clubhouse security man, who has a small monitor in the hallway outside the clubhouse.

Francona said lefthander Jon Lester touched 93 miles per hour in another impressive rehab start for Single A Greenville Tuesday night, one in which he pitched four scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out five. "He's the best text messager in the game," Francona said. "He text messaged me this morning, said he felt good. He's begging for more innings. He'll go five in his next start." . . . Though snow and rain may wipe out today's game, Francona said his plan is to start Wily Mo Peña in right field in place of J.D. Drew, even after Drew extended his season-opening hitting streak to eight games. His plan, Francona said, was to give Drew a day off every 10 games or so. "We think that's the best way to get production," Francona said . . . The Sox are planning to honor the late Red Auerbach and the Celtics organization in pregame ceremonies today. The plan is to hang all 16 of the Celtics' championship banners from the Green Monster . . . Righthanded pitcher J.D. Durbin, just claimed off waivers from Arizona, has been designated for assignment. The Sox hope he clears waivers so he can be assigned to a minor league team . . . Mariners lefthander Arthur Rhodes, 37, has a torn ligament in his pitching elbow and is considering ligament replacement surgery that would keep him out for the rest of the season . . . Josh Beckett became the first Sox pitcher to win back-to-back home openers since Dennis Eckersley in 1979-80 . . . David Ortiz said he's the one who taught Matsuzaka the finger-slapping handshake the two shared on Opening Day, with the players bowing to each other at the end. A fast learner? Ortiz nodded. "Like this," he said, snapping his fingers . . . Yoichi Suzuki, the Consul General of Japan in Boston, threw out the first pitch . . . Mike Timlin said his shoulder is considerably stronger than it was last season, when he wound up going on the disabled list with a shoulder strain. While he pitched just 2 1/3 innings in the World Baseball Classic last spring, Timlin said the tournament did contribute to his shoulder woes. "Your mind is telling you to go full tilt," he said. "Your body isn't quite ready."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report; Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.