BOSTON -- The last couple of years, Boston has not been a fun place for Alex Rodriguez. The star third baseman has been the object of scorn from fans, many of whom resent his role in a melee with Jason Varitek, not to mention the fact he wound up with the Yankees instead of the Red Sox.

However, while A-Rod didn't have much success against the Red Sox during the recently completed three-game series at Fenway Park, he made a meaningful contribution on the streets of Boston that far transcends the game of baseball.

According to reports, Rodriguez saved an 8-year-old boy on Wednesday afternoon from getting hit by a utility truck on Newbury Street, which is one of the most popular shopping streets in Boston.

In a story reported in Friday's Boston Globe, Rodriguez and young Patrick McCarthy of Edgartown, Mass., were crossing Newbury Street in opposite directions. A truck came screaming around the corner from Arlington Street and began veering for McCarthy when A-Rod swooped in. He scooped the boy up and landed him safely on the curb.

"I don't know exactly what happened," A-Rod told The Globe. "I know his mother must have seen the truck going really fast, 40 or 50 miles an hour, and she was really thankful. I guess I'm just thankful that the little boy is still around, I guess."

So are the boy's parents.

Joe McCarthy, Patrick's father, knows that A-Rod is not very popular in Boston.

"I can't change anybody's mind," McCarthy told The Globe. "But I can say this guy is in my prayers for the rest of my days."

For Patrick McCarthy, the scary incident occurred quickly.

He told a TV reporter from WHDH-TV in Boston that a van blocked his view, "so I couldn't see a car coming, so I walked across the street because it said, like, the walk sign. And this guy just puts his hand in front of me and says 'Whoa, buddy, watch out.' So we looked up and we saw, we were like, 'Is that A-Rod?'."

Soon, they realized that it was.

Incidentally, McCarthy is a Yankees fan, as, according to The Globe, much of his family has season tickets at Yankee Stadium.