ANGELS NOTEBOOK: DONNELLY CAN'T LICK THE HABIT.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

CHICAGO - Add Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly to the list of players annoyed by Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

On Wednesday, for the second consecutive game, Donnelly was assessed a ball when his pitching hand made contact with his mouth while still on the mound. Donnelly rebounded to strike out Timo Perez to start the bottom of the seventh inning, but the next batter, Joe Crede, hit a solo home run to pull the White Sox within 8-6 in a game the Angels won 10-7.

After Donnelly was assessed the ball by first base umpire Tim Timmons, pitching coach Bud Black came to the mound to chat with Donnelly. He grabbed a dirt clod from the back of the mound and fired it in the direction of the White Sox dugout.

Just a coincidence, Black said, smirking.

Donnelly was a little more forward.

``I commend Ozzie Guillen on doing anything he can to win a ballgame,'' Donnelly said. ``But I do think it's pretty tired. If I'm managing another ballclub, unless someone was blatantly doctoring the ball, I wouldn't interfere with a player.

``He wants to get in my head and win the game. But go out and win the way they've been winning, by hitting well and pitching well. Come on. I've been too busy giving up home runs to cheat.''

Guillen said the umpires were aware of Donnelly's habit and that while rules are odd, they nonetheless are meant to be abided.

``It's one of the rules that's a weird rule,'' Guillen said. ``You can be one inch away from the dirt, you can do it. All of a sudden, you're on the dirt, you can't do it. A rule is a rule, and the umpires were aware and they were watching what he was doing.''

Black, whose left arm already gets plenty of work during batting practice, said his creative mound manicuring was ``just a dirt clod. Didn't have any meaning to it. I think the opposition is trying to make the umpires aware of the rule. I don't think there's any gamesmanship there.''

Said Donnelly of Black's projectile-tossing: ``I'm totally OK with that.''

Donnelly says his hand-licking is a reflexive movement he'll have to work to curtail. Not that it was an issue before.

``Apparently, it's a habit of mine, just like it's a habit I have of eating bacon cheeseburgers,'' Donnelly said. ``Apparently, I'm going to have to work on it.''

--Kotchman at DH: Casey Kotchman got his second consecutive start at designated hitter and that figures to be a trend against right-handed pitchers. Kotchman went 0 for 4 and is hitless in eight at-bats since coming up from Triple-A Salt Lake.

``(DH) is not an ideal spot for a young player,'' Scioscia said. ``But it's the only place for him to get at-bats. We want to get him a couple looks to see if he'll become part of our offense.''