"OK, great. What else you got, Theo?"
Well, because this is a game of attrition, leaving both Kevin Youkilis and Jed Lowrie on the sidelines during the team's most important stretch, Aviles has moved into a prominent role and is embracing his opportunity.
Aviles has gone 4-for-7 with a home run, a double and two RBIs in two straight starts this weekend. He'll get a third straight start at third base Sunday, and will start in the second spot of the lineup for the first time in over a month.
The team would love to have a healthy Youkilis, but Aviles not only gives them another quality option to replace him, but also has the ability to thrive when given playing time.
"Yeah, it's gonna be interesting," Terry Francona said Sunday. "When he first came up, he was such a good offensive player, especially against us. And then he started playing sporadically and it affected his swing a little bit. He shows you at times what he can do. He's a strong kid. If you throw it where he can reach it, he can hit it a long way, so hopefully getting some consistent at-bats will kind of help him, too."
Although the playing time has been sporadic with Boston, Aviles is hitting .361 with an .832 OPS since coming aboard prior to the trade deadline. He's also stolen four bases in five attempts and has played five different positions.
His experiment in right field yielded some awkward moments, but the club loves the way Aviles handles both positions on the left side of the infield.
"I think he's handled himself really well, actually, wherever we've put him," Francona said. "It was a stretch as a right fielder, probably wasn't altogether fair to him. But he was willing to do it and I think at some point that is going to help us. But he's pretty athletic. He's got a pretty good clock. When he needs to speed up, especially at shortstop, where it's probably more important to have that internal clock. Do you need to move your feet to throw it now or do you have time? And I think his arm strength is really coming back maybe quicker than anticipated.
Francona sees that same versatility with Aviles at the plate. He can bunt, he handles the bat well enough to play hit-and-run and when needed, he can do what he did Friday night, when he hammered a James Shields offering off the Sports Authority sign above the Monster seats.
It was the first home run for Aviles in a Red Sox uniform and he said he floated around the bases. It was a key blast in an eventual one-run win, the kind of contribution most didn't anticipate when Aviles initially came aboard.
