ANGELS NOTEBOOK: MONDESI'S CONTRACT TERMINATED.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - The Angels terminated the contract of Raul Mondesi on Friday, abruptly ending the outfielder's short stay with the club. Mondesi failed to show up for rehabilitation work on his injured right thigh on Monday and has not been heard from since, though general manager Bill Stoneman said he suspects Mondesi is home in the Dominican Republic.

``Enough was enough,'' Stoneman said, noting that Mondesi will not be paid for the remainder of the season because he violated his contract. Mondesi signed a one-year deal for $1.75 million on May 29 and has been paid about half ($875,000). He will forfeit the remaining $875,000.

``He had an obligation to show up and get better,'' Stoneman said. ``He was getting paid. He had an obligation to show up for rehab just as he would to show up here (for a game).''

Mondesi suffered a torn quadriceps muscle in his right thigh on June 8. He was on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Salt Lake when he reinjured the thigh on July 16, and was supposed to resume non-baseball rehab at a facility in nearby Orange, but failed to show all week. According to Stoneman, Mondesi's failure to show up was becoming a habit.

``This wasn't the first time he's missed rehab,'' Stoneman said. ``He missed some time without permission (and was suspended for unauthorized leave of absence June 19-21). Another time he needed to go home and clean up a personal matter for a limited time without pay.''

The Angels were able to sign Mondesi only because he had his contract terminated by the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this season, also for failing to show up as he dealt with problems in the Dominican regarding a $640,000 settlement against him. He was signed to give the Angels some outfield depth after the injury to Garret Anderson, but was a risk because of the issue at home as well as a history of erratic behavior.

Still, Stoneman had hoped for better from Mondesi.

``It's a disappointment,'' he said. ``Before we did a deal with him we did a background check and actually got favorable recommendations.''

Said manager Mike Scioscia: ``Raul didn't have the same commitment we had to get his leg back to where it needed to be. An injury like that takes incredible amount of commitment to get back to play. He wasn't going to follow up on that.''

--Full of Pride: Outfielder Curtis Pride, who was called up July 27, got his first start with the Angels on Friday as Chone Figgins got a needed day off. Figgins went 0 for 6 on Thursday.

Pride, who started in center field, is 95 percent deaf, but Scioscia said no major adjustments needed to be made among the outfielders.

``When Curtis will aggressively call for a ball, he'll take it,'' Scioscia said. ``He uses instincts, experience and field awareness to replace anything else as far as senses you would use to communicate.''

--The good and bad: Vladimir Guerrero got thrown out between first and second on Thursday after his single in the 12th inning drove Garret Anderson to third. So instead of having runners on first and third with no outs, they had a runner at third with one out. They didn't score in the inning and lost the game in 13 innings.

Guerrero has made similar baserunning blunders this season, as well as failing to hit the cutoff man, allowing baserunners to take extra bases on him. But Scioscia said he'll take the bad with the good when it comes with Guerrero.

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- Joe Haakenson