Most players run into trouble off the field, but not Pawtucket outfielder Israel "Izzy" Alcantara, whose mental lapses are about the only thing that has prevented him from reaching his potential. His most recent breakdown will keep him out of the AAA All-Star game and won't help him earn a recall to Boston.

Red Sox Fan Poll What should the Red Sox do with Izzy Alcantara? Release him Trade him Keep him at Pawtucket Promote him to Boston Results

Alcantara is the PawSox's Manny Ramirez. While his Triple Crown numbers at Pawtucket are akin to those of Ramirez in Boston, Izzy's attitude and mental approach to the game have kept him from contributing much at the next level.

Now thanks to a bizarre incident, Izzy will miss the AAA All-Star game in Indianapolis and six games for Pawtucket. On July 3, two years to the day that Izzy made his debut with Pawtucket, Alcantara took exception to a pair of inside pitches thrown by Scanton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Blas Cedeno and charged the mound. But before he ran to the mound, Izzy turned around and karate kicked catcher Jeremy Salazar in the chest and facemask. As the benches and bullpens emptied, Alcantara was tackled by Scranton third baseman Kevin Orie before any punches could be thrown.

The day after the incident, which was replayed by ESPN, International League President Randy Mobley suspended Izzy for six games and fined him an undisclosed amount. Shortly thereafter, Mobley took the unprecedented action of suspending Alcantara from the AAA All-Star game.

Since the incident Alcantara sent the Red Sox a letter apologizing for his behavior. The team felt Izzy's removal from the All-Star game was unfair. ''Based on his performance, he deserves to play in the All-Star game," GM Dan Duquette said. The Duke believed the repeated airing of video clips of the incident prompted the additional penalty.

All Star Break Comparasion

	G	AVG	HR	RBI	2B	R	SLG	OBP
Manny Ramirez	85	.335	26	84	21	60	.649	.432
Izzy Alcantara	77	.344	26	66	22	56	.706	.429

Izzy has put up Manny-like numbers for the PawSox, and at the time of the suspension was leading the league with a .344 average and 26 HR. He was also second in the league with 66 RBI in 77 games.

In Izzy's defense, the Providence Journal offered this explanation:

"What happened may have been simmering for some time. By his actions, it appears Alcantara knew something might occur that night. After the game Alcantara insisted Cedeno was throwing at him.

Early in May, Alcantara slammed two home runs off Red Barons pitcher Pete Zamora, who later hit Alcantara with a pitch and was suspended and fined by the league.

On July 2 Alcantara belted another home run off Zamora and may have, in Zamora's view, hot-dogged it a little around the bases. In Alcantara's mind, the July 3 eighth inning eruption was no innocent development and may have been planned as retaliation by Red Barons pitchers."

The incident marked a full calendar year of troubling occurrences for the talented Alcantara, which started less than a week after making his major league debut on June 25, 2000. Last July 1 the Red Sox played a Saturday afternoon game in Chicago against the White Sox. Paxton Crawford made his major league debut in that game, but it was Alcantara who would garner all of the press attention.

For reason unknown to all, especially considering he languished for seven years in the minors, Izzy decided to loaf his way through the game, failing to hustle on the base paths and making two lazy errors in the field that cost the team a couple of runs.

After the game manager Jimy Williams, enraged at Izzy's lack of effort, called a rare closed-door meeting. For the rest of the 2000 season, Williams rarely used Alcantara, who was out of minor league options and probably would've been claimed on waivers by another team if he had been sent down. As a result, Izzy primarily rode the bench until he was placed on the 15-day DL on August 13. After returning to the Red Sox when rosters expanded on September 1, Izzy got only eight at-bats for the remainder of the year.

After hitting .308 with 29 HR and 76 RBI in just 78 games at Pawtucket, Izzy was named the PawSox team MVP. Despite his accolades and potential, Boston released Alcantara following the 2000 season.

Just when it appeared that Izzy's tenure with the Red Sox was over, the team invited him to spring training as a non-roster player. His 2001 season got off to a rough start when, due to visa problems, Izzy was the last of 58 players to report to camp in Ft. Myers, arriving three days after full-squad workouts began. Up until his karate-kick tirade, Izzy had remained out of the spotlight.

Although it remains to be seen how long Izzy will remain within the Red Sox organization, it took him quite some time to get there.

Alcantara got his start in professional baseball when he was signed by the Montreal Expos out of the Dominican Republic as a third baseman. Starting in 1992, Izzy played six seasons in the Expos organization, where his fielding went from atrocious to bad to not good. In 1993 he committed an astonishing 57 errors in 126 games at Class A Burlington, while the following year at West Palm Beach Izzy made 32 fielding miscues in 125 games. In 1995 Izzy had 29 errors in 110 games, then made 23 in 84 games in 1996.

While struggling in the field, Izzy wasn't exactly tearing things up at the plate. Until he had a breakout year in 1997 at AA Harrisburg, Izzy topped out at 18 HR and 73 RBIs, and both of those totals came in 1993. But things began to come together for Izzy in '97 when he swatted 27 HR in just 89 games.

Following the '97 season Izzy was picked up by the Tampa Bay organization, and in 1998 he split his time with St. Petersburg, Reading, and Orlando, where he combined to hit a career high .308 with 28 HR and 88 RBI. Izzy's stay with the Devil Rays was short-lived, and on November 10, 1998 the Red Sox signed him as a minor league free agent.

Izzy started the 1999 season with AA Trenton, but on July 3 he finally made the jump to AAA when he reached Pawtucket. Izzy had a monster year for the two Red Sox farm clubs, combining to hit 29 HR and driving in 83 runs in 101 games. Izzy also took a leave of absence during the season from July 12 to August 3 so he could play for the Dominican Republic in the Pan Am Games.

Izzy started the 2000 season in Pawtucket but on June 25 he was called up to Boston and made his major league debut in Toronto, recording his first hit off of the Blue Jays' Paul Quantrill. Five days later, Izzy drilled his first home run off of Chicago's Jim Parque at Comiskey Park. The following day Izzy loafed through a game with the White Sox and spent most of the rest of the season as a designated bench warmer as a result.