With the postponement on Sunday due to this lovely weather we are having, both the Red Sox and Angels have pushed Sunday’s starters to today. With that, Julian Tavarez is being bumped from his start and will now pitch on Thursday. When he was asked about what will possibly be 12 days between starts, Tavarez had this to say:
“Two weeks, 13 days or 15 days, that’s the most I’ve gone, but I don’t pitch at all in the winter and I go to Spring Training and pitch, so it doesn’t make any difference,” Tavarez said. “It’s all about what’s in your mind. If you put in your mind, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven’t pitched in 13 [days],’ then you’re going to have a tough time. You’ve just got to be strong, mind over matter.”
When he was asked about if the game being rained out affected him, this was his response:
“Not at all, not at all, because it’s all in your mind. It’s how you take it. To me, I just take it easy, do my running, go the weight room, do my long toss. I’ve got to throw in the cage a little bit, and Tuesday I’m going to throw on the side in Toronto and I’ll be fine for Thursday. For sure, I’m going to pitch Thursday, if I’m alive.”
In my opinion, if Tavarez doesn’t pitch well, the Red Sox might be enamored to bring up Devern Hanseck from Triple-A Pawtucket. He has struck out 20 batters in his 2 starts (20 1/3 innings). Of course, all this is probably just a stop gap until Jon Lester returns from his rehab assignment. It is probably a good thing that Lester isn’t up right now too, because a pitcher like him needs to pitch regularly. With this very odd spring weather so far, he might be in the same boat as Tavarez.
As for the game today, the gates will be open bright and early at 8:05 am. The Red Sox will try to do everything they can to get the game in even if that means not starting on time. As for what the weather forecast calls for, that could be a different story. This is what the National Weather Service has forecast for the Boston area on Monday:
Monday: Periods of rain, mainly before 3pm. The rain could be heavy at times. High near 45. Breezy, with a east wind 27 to 30 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
So it could be a long wait for the game to start, if it starts at all. And if you see kayaks going down the streets, it’s probably someone from the Boston Marathon, which will take place no matter what the weather is.
