Tavarez looks for fresh start
When Julian Tavarez is asked about his last four starts, three losses and a no-decision, he makes sure to interject a qualifier. It's not his last four starts that are at issue. It's his last two. Or maybe three of four. He remembers that start July 1 against Texas, 5 2/3 innings in which he yielded two runs (one earned) in a hard-luck 2-1 loss, and he insists it's included in the good tally, not the bad.
He needs any semblance of a positive he can find. Nearly a month has passed since Tavarez's last win, June 20 in Atlanta (no runs, three hits in seven innings). Since then, he hasn't gotten past the sixth inning, giving up 20 runs, 16 earned, in 18 2/3 innings.
"I've just been getting my [butt] kicked," Tavarez said after the Red Sox lost to the Royals, 9-3, last night at Fenway Park, leaving it to him to provide a boost tonight when he faces Kansas City. "I've just been behind the hitter. I've been working behind the hitter too much, too often. Walking too many guys.
"I know I've got to do well to stay in the starting rotation. I'm the fifth starter. I just take one day at a time, I guess. It's a good thing we're in first place. You've just got to think positive and trust your stuff and trust that you can do it."
Not that he's done anything differently between starts, he said. There have been no particular words of wisdom or suggestions from pitching coach John Farrell, either. And while manager Terry Francona said after his last start, "We've got to get [Tavarez] back to having that two-seamer with life through the zone," the pitcher demurs.
"Location," said Tavarez, who has 10 strikeouts and 10 walks in his last four outings. "Location, walking guys. Most of my walks have scored lately. To me, I've got to go out there, don't walk anybody, get the location.
"When you don't hit the location, everything goes wrong for you out there. It's been a little frustrating, but I'm not changing anything. Still do the same workout, eating the same thing, getting the same amount of sleep that I get all the time."
But his ERA has bulged to 5.15, inflated by a 7.71 mark in his last four starts. His record has sunk to 5-7. He spent the first portion of the season addressing speculation about whether he'd be bumped from the rotation by recovering lefthander Jon Lester. Kason Gabbard's recent emergence has changed the question, but only slightly. Now it's about when or if Tavarez will be bumped by Gabbard, who presently is holding down the injured Curt Schilling's spot. The conjecture intensified after Gabbard's three-hit shutout of the Royals Monday night.
Tavarez's approach , he says, is that he came in as the No. 5 starter and there he remains. He doesn't want to lie to himself. And in the end, it doesn't matter what you call him. He's in the rotation right now. But he is sensitive to the problems he's had.
"I take it home," Tavarez said. "I leave the uniform and I take it home. Think about it a little bit, about things that I want to happen in my next start, things like that. It's like I just can't wait for my next start. That's how I approach this.
"You just can't take it back. [But] I don't let it drive me crazy."
With that, and a few more spritzes of cologne, and a little singing on the way out about getting a win, Tavarez left the clubhouse. But not without one more piece of wisdom.
"I can't wait till tomorrow, especially after today," he said. "I can't wait to have a great game tomorrow, bring the music back into the clubhouse."
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. 