As usual, Tavarez toughs it out

Jon Lester could be pitching as soon as this weekend for Pawtucket, which plays in Ottawa. Lester's imminent return means the meter is running for Julian Tavarez, who is scheduled to start tonight for the Red Sox but will not be long for the rotation once Lester is healthy.

"I don't worry about it," Tavarez said recently. "I won't be surprised. I won't be mad. As long as we're in first place, as long as I keep my uniform, I'm OK. I appreciate starting these games. I enjoy every one they give me. The main thing is to stay healthy."

Tavarez turns 34 in six days. He is in the last year of a contract that has paid him $3.1 million the last two years. The club has an option for 2008 that would pay him $3.85 million, but no one is looking that far ahead.

This much is certain, he says: As long as he plays baseball, he will continue to support his mother, Maria, his father, Francisco, his four brothers, and the baby of the family, his sister Guilla. Tavarez has bought homes and cars for all of them back in the Dominican Republic, and he still sends money home regularly. "I've told myself, as long as I can, I will take care of my family," he said.

Tavarez grew up in Santiago, in the mountainous region of Cibao. His father worked in construction, building cinder blocks. His mother rolled tobacco, standing in a factory from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., making 100 pesos a week. "Not even 40 bucks," Tavarez said.

He was the youngest boy. He sold newspapers, cleaned shoes, helped his father on his construction job. School? "I never went a day in my life," he said. "My mother and my father, they never went, either."

The house in which they lived had a dirt floor, he said. Until he signed a pro contract with the Indians, the roof was a palm tree. For water, they went to the river. Sometimes he would chase down stray baseballs from a nearby park and sell them for something to eat. Tony Fernandez, the former Blue Jays shortstop, gave him his first glove.

The Indians gave him $1,000, scout Winston Llenas grudgingly signing the aspiring shortstop because he had a good arm and because Tavarez's youth coach, Orlando Perez, asked him to do so as a favor. "I cashed the check and gave the money to my mother," he said. "I also bought a couple of pairs of jeans."

Tavarez signed in 1990. His first season in the United States was in 1992, the same year he was in spring training for the first time with Manny Ramírez, whom he'd met that winter in the Dominican playing winter ball. They became friends. Tavarez made it to the big leagues as a callup in 1993, a year ahead of Ramírez. He was 20 years old.

The following year, 1994, he was a 15-game winner in Triple A Charlotte for the Indians. One of his teammates was John Farrell, the current Sox pitching coach. The Indians wanted Tavarez to learn English; Tavarez took classes but also had the good fortune to have teammates who wanted to learn Spanish, including Damian Jackson, who later played for the Sox. Tavarez found himself with three American roommates, and learned by trial and error. Today, he says, he thinks in English first. He also has more success reading English than Spanish.

When he looks back on his life, he acknowledges there were tough times.

"But thank God, it made me appreciate what I have," he said. "I get along good with people. It's kind of hard for me to go to high-class people's houses, to see how they throw the food away, waste the food. It hurts me to see people throw away food."

But if you think he's worried about coming out of the rotation, think again.

"As long as I stay healthy and stay in this body," he said, "I'll play this game. If I was out of baseball, what would I do?"

Someone got around to asking Barry Bonds about Curt Schilling's comments last week (for which Schilling subsequently apologized), or maybe Bonds got around to responding to such questions.

"I'm too old for childish activities," Bonds said. "I don't really have any time for that at all. I didn't really hear them at first, I was told about them. I don't really have any comment to that. I've got children and I'm too old for that stuff."

Schilling and Bonds once had the same agent, Jeff Borris, and knew each other socially. There's obviously no love lost between them.

Josh Beckett was scheduled to see a hand specialist last night, but manager Terry Francona said he was encouraged that Beckett again played catch and did a little throwing off the mound. Beckett is expected to miss his start Friday but could avoid being disabled. Pawtucket held lefty Kason Gabbard to five innings and 65 pitches Monday night; he is an option to take Beckett's spot; Devern Hansack and, to a lesser degree, Runelvys Hernandez are other options . . . Mike Timlin played a short game of catch after getting an encouraging exam from Dr. Thomas Gill regarding the inflammation in his shoulder. Still, Timlin said he is at least four or five days away from throwing off a mound, and his return could be an off-and-on proposition . . . Young relievers Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen have made three appearances each since the notorious May 5 meltdown in which they collaborated to blow an eight-run lead in the ninth inning. They have thrown four scoreless innings apiece.

Kyle Snyder, who got the last four outs last night (three by whiffs), said he would not be dismayed if the Sox skip him and call up another pitcher to start Friday. "I'm comfortable with what I'm doing," Snyder said. "Does that mean I wouldn't be excited if they told me I was starting Friday? Of course not. It's an understanding I have. I'm ready every time they call in the pen." . . . Kevin Youkilis, who singled and hit a tape-measure home run off the back wall in center, has hit in nine straight games, matching his career-best streak. Youkilis is batting .474 (18 for 38) in that span, with nine RBIs, and overall is batting .333, the highest average among Sox regulars and among the American League's top 10. Last season, his first in the big leagues, Youkilis was batting .317 at the end of May and .301 July 8 before hitting .253 in his last 65 games to finish at .279.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.