Julian Tavarez: Yankee killer (sic)
Julian Tavarez secured his first win of the season - which will quite possibly be the only win he secures as a starter this season… and it came against the Yankees… in Yankee Stadium. Now I *know* the Yankees are struggling.
Sure the 9-13 record coming in could’ve been a clue that the Yanks were off to a tough start (again this year). And the Sox taking 4 of the first 5 against NY might have been an indication, although the rest of the Sox rotation is pretty good - and the Yankees rotation is… in flux. So that could be explained away.
When Julian Tavarez started against Roy Halladay and the Sox won the game, that was cuz Tavarez didn’t pitch well while Halladay did… and then Gibbons was kind enough to get Halladay out early so his bullpen could hand the Sox the game. Tavarez didn’t get the win (nor did he deserve to in any sense), but the Sox did win a game he started thanks to their bullpen *and* the opponent’s bullpen. Okay.
But Tavarez actually outpitched Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees ace. Yes, this is only Ming’s second start since starting the season on the DL. But this is Julian Tavarez. When it was announced that Tavarez would be the Sox fifth starter to begin the season, I was optimistic that he would find a way to keep the team in games more often than not so they had a chance of actually winning half the games he started. But when he’s facing another team’s ace, especially guys like Halladay and Wang, I can’t reasonably be expected to presume the Sox would win… much less that Tavarez would actually earn a “W”.
Tavarez got off to a nice start, retiring the first six batters he faced - five on ground balls. Then in the third inning he decided to do his Ricky Vaughn impression… ball four… ball eight… ball twelve… how could the Yankees lay off pitches *so* close? He walks the first two batters on eight pitches. Doug Mendoza-Line-kiewicz steps in to try and sacrifice the runners over to second and third - but Vaughn… er, Tavarez beats him to it, with a wild pitch. So Mient-can’t-hit-iewicz swings away and hits a three-run home run. Amazingly, that turned out to be the only three runs Tavarez would give up on the afternoon. He handed a one-run lead to his bullpen and (with some help from the Yankee bullpen) they make it hold up.
Wang: 6.0 IP, 4R/4ER, 6 hits, 3BB, 1K, 84 pitches/50 strikes, allowed 2 HR
Tavarez: 5.0 IP, 3R/3ER, 3 hits, 2BB, 2K, 84 pitches/46 strikes, allowed 1 HR
At worst, Tavarez pitched as well as Wang - arguably he outpitched Wang… two starts from the DL or not. Tavarez did benefit from a stronger bullpen effort, as the Sox ‘pen is starting to round into shape - specifically thanks to the outstanding start that Okajima has had. Today, two innings, one hit, four strikeouts - against the meat of the Yankee lineup. Yeah, I’ll take that pretty much every time. Timlin gave up a solo HR, and then Papelbon did what he always does in April: He didn’t allow a run. Meanwhile, the Sox got three additional runs from the Yankee bullpen, and it turns out the Sox needed at least one of those.
This is not an obituary of the 2007 Yankees. I’ve seen the Sox leading the division in the first half of the season far too often over the past decade only to see the Yankees come back and win the division (what is it now… eleven straight… and counting?). I refuse to be foolish enough to declare the Evil Empire as vanquished, and I’m waiting for George to peer out from under his hood sometime in August or September and remind us all, “I assure you that the Death Star is ful-ly op-er-a-tion-al… mwah-hah-hah.”
But there’s no denying the fact that the Julian Tavarez outpitched the Yankees ace, in the Bronx, en route to what may turn out to be his only 2007 win as a starter. Wow. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes… and even at that, I’m wondering if it was just a mirage.
Okay, I’m done now.