Alfredo Aceves (above, right) found himself the center of attention during Saturday’s WBC altercation between Mexico and Canada, with Canada coach Larry Walker (left) suggesting the Boston reliever was, well, possessed. Far less likely to demonize, WEEI.com’s Alex Speier sought Aceves side of the brawl.

Asked if he knew why Canada or Tyson Gillies seemed intent on going after him, Aceves could not offer a specific answer.

“Who’s Gillies? Oh, no. That was the first time I saw him there. Like I said, it’s part of the game. He was trying to defend his team. If it were me, I’d try to do the same thing,” said Aceves. “What can I say? It didn’t surprise me when he threw me to the floor. I reacted to it, because I didn’t do nothing to him. I was just calming down. The fighting was with the pitcher and the hitter. So I was saying, ‘Calm down, man, calm down, come on, man.’ And he just grabbed me and threw me on the floor. So I was like, ‘I’m going to throw you on the floor, man.’ Then when I jumped in to this guy, I had seven guys against me.”

Asked if he was concerned about the possibility of injury to his elbow or shoulder in the pile up, Aceves suggested his focus was elsewhere.

“You’re locked in. You’re just trying to defend and knock them out. That’s it. We were trying to defense ourselves. We didn’t do nothing to him. He just threw me,” said Aceves.