Major League Baseball
Cactus League notebook: Donnelly hospitalized again with nosebleeds

By Seattle Times news services

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Anaheim Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly has been hospitalized because of severe nosebleeds while recovering from being hit in the face by a fly ball.

Donnelly returned to a Scottsdale hospital late Saturday night and underwent a third surgery on his fractured nose, which was broken in 20 places March 9 while he shagged flies during batting practice.

"They told me I lost half the blood in my body," Donnelly said, adding that he had lost seven pints of blood. "I didn't realize how serious it was."

Said Angels shortstop David Eckstein: "We're concerned with his safety. It's dangerous to lose that much blood."

Donnelly will start the season on the disabled list, the team said. He will remain in the hospital three or four days.

Manager Mike Scioscia said he might try to visit Donnelly, depending on the pitcher's condition.

"He had another procedure. He's pretty out of it and he's pretty sedated," Scioscia said after the Angels' 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants yesterday. "His blood pressure goes up when he sees me. ... This is not a situation where we're trying to get him back on the mound. It's a situation where we want to make sure his condition is stable so he can be healthy."

Notes

• Giants manager Felipe Alou expects closer Robb Nen to start the season on the disabled list — and ace Jason Schmidt is likely to join him. Nen, trying to recover from three shoulder surgeries that caused him to miss the entire 2003 season, hasn't thrown off the mound in a week, and Schmidt hasn't pitched since going four innings against the Chicago Cubs on March 14 because of shoulder soreness.
 
• In Tucson, Preston Wilson homered in his first game of the spring for Colorado in a 9-4 victory over Texas. Wilson, who led the NL with 141 RBI last season, had been sidelined because of a sore left knee.

• In Surprise, Carlos Beltran went 3 for 3 to raise his Cactus League-leading batting average to .500 (24 for 48) in Kansas City's 14-6 victory over San Diego.

• Colorado gave utility player Damian Jackson his unconditional release.

• In Tucson, Scott Schoeneweis, the projected No. 4 starter for the White Sox, gave up six runs on eight hits in 3-1/3 innings in a 8-5 loss to Milwaukee.

• Health-conscious fans who want to bring apples and oranges to Padres games will have do some pregame preparation: Cut up the fruit. Whole apples and oranges are banned from Petco Park for safety reasons — a whole apple thrown from the stands can land with the force of a rock.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company