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Closer Tantrum Wraps Isotopes/Royals vs. Officials
'Topes Alvarez blows his top after night of questionable calls and flaring
tempers.
Albuquerque, NM - 08.16.03 - There are those who caught Saturday night's game at Isotopes Park who might have believed that they were there to see the division-leading Isotopes take on the Omaha Royals.
It appeared, after a few innings of play, that the contest was one more between the officiating crew and both teams. In an evening that Mike Tyson would have probably enjoyed, the culmination of the festivities ended in a shocking temper tantrum by pitcher Juan Alvarez
Throughout the evening
both the coaches of the Royals and the Isotopes were in the faces of the officials
for very arguable calls on pitching and base running.
In the bottom of the eighth, the umpire made a call on a pitch that was one
too many bad rulings in the eyes of Juan Alvarez, who got into the face of
the home-plate umpire at the end of the inning. The ump, Brian Knight, ejected
Alavarez from the game. This should have been the end of it.
Instead, Alvarez threw a temper tantrum in the dugout, lobbing several balls in the direction of the umpire and hurling a bat from the dugout on to the field that landed within a few feet of umpire Knight. Catcher Paul Hoover quickly picked the balls as skipper Dean Treanor, speaking with Knight shot a look into the dugout to get Alvarez under control.
The league has not made a determination on whether disciplinary action will be taken against Alvarez.
"We don't know all of the details. All I know of the incident is what you saw." said George King, Director of Baseball Operations who handles disciplinary issues for the PCL. " We need more inside information before a decision can be made."
King said there will be a "response" to Alvarez's outburst from the league, though the PCL does not release any information regarding disciplinary punishments to the public.
"There will be no public announcement," King said. "It is left up to the individual teams to announce when a player has been suspended."
