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| Our Brush With "Alfredo Fame" |
There are many players who stand out in our memories for their brilliant performances. Others remain in our heads for their—well, shall we say, peculiarities. A guy who actually bridged
both was the mercurial
Alfredo Aceves. In his three seasons with the Red Sox, Aceves went 16-13 with a 3.94 ERA. In 235 innings pitched, he gave up just 206 hits (H/IP is always the key test of a good pitcher). He also whiffed about seven batters per nine innings pitched (6.9). All in all, he
generally came through—and in a quite a few big situations. Then, of course, there were the "quirky" moments. Perhaps the most memorable was in a 2012 game against his old team—
The Bronx Embalmers. After getting shelled in the sixth inning, he was about to be taken out of the game by manager
Bobby Valentine. Aceves ignored
Bobby V., handed the ball to catcher
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and then took a somewhat "circuitous" route off the mound back to the Red Sox dugout. Priceless. Alfredo turns 35 today.
Happy birthday, big guy!
