TAVAREZ

BOSTON — Yesterday’s rainout forced manager Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell to do a little more juggling of the starting rotation.

And once again it was Julian Tavarez who was bumped from a start.

The right-hander lost his start last week when Thursday’s game was rained out in Boston. He was pushed into the starting role for today’s Patriots’ Day game. But yesterday’s rainout prompted Francona and Farrell to bump Tavarez again, to Thursday in the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Francona and Farrell have come to the conclusion that it’s better to have one pitcher in the rotation bite the bullet and get bumped multiple times rather than force everyone in the rotation to pitch on more rest than normal.

Tavarez, meanwhile, has no complaints with the brain trust’s decision, even he will have had 11 days of rest since his only start of the year, on April 7 in Texas.

“I don’t mind it at all because it’s all in your mind. It’s how you take it. I take it easy. Mentally I’m very strong and focused,” said Tavarez yesterday before heading to the indoor cage to throw a side session.

“You have to find a way to battle it,” he said. “My body will be ready. I run every day. I do my long toss. I stretch. This is what I do for a living. I don’t like excuses. I don’t make excuses. I’ll be ready to pitch.”

Francona said that after talking to Tavarez, it was decided not to bring him into a game for an inning of relief in the next day or two to prepare him for the start against the Blue Jays. Tavarez threw a side yesterday and tomorrow he’ll throw to some hitters in Toronto.

The way in which Tavarez has handled the bumps has been appreciated by Francona. Tavarez, who has been a reliever most of his career, has gone through similar stretches on inactivity in that role.

But he was smiling yesterday.

“We’re in first place. We’re healthy. We’re not the only team that has been going through (postponements because of weather). I’ll be fine for Thursday. I’ll pitch for sure (because of Toronto’s dome) if I don’t die,” he said.

Beckett throws today

There were other alterations in the rotation.

Weather permitting, Josh Beckett will pitch today’s game against the Angels. Daisuke Matsuzaka will open the three-game series in Toronto tomorrow night, and he’ll be followed by Tim Wakefield and Tavarez.

That shifts ace right-hander Curt Schilling from a Thursday matinee matchup against the Jays’ ace, Roy Halladay, to a start Friday night at home in the opener of a three-game set against the New York Yankees.

Rain on the parade

Yesterday’s postponement may also have taken the team’s celebration of Jackie Robinson down the drain.

Major League Baseball was honoring the man who integrated baseball at every venue yesterday, with players from each team wearing the Jackie Robinson’s number 42 to honor him. Coco Crisp, David Ortiz and third-base coach DeMarlo Hale were going to wear number 42 yesterday.

The Sox were planning to contact MLB to see if they could push their celebration ceremony to today.

Of course, the Red Sox were concerned that Mother Nature may not allow that to happen today anyway. The game is scheduled to start at 10 a.m., so as not to interfere with the annual Boston Marathon.

Pena to get a start

Wily Mo Pena was slated to be in the starting lineup yesterday, replacing Crisp in center field.

The move wasn’t so much because Crisp is struggling (4-for-36, .111) but to give Pena a chance to get some at-bats. Pena has not yet started a game this year, and has had only four at-bats. He is 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, including a whiff on Saturday as a late-inning replacement.

Francona said Pena could get a start in Toronto tomorrow night against a left-hander (Gustavo Chacin). Right fielder J.D. Drew, a left-handed hitter, likely would get the night off.

Slow out of the gate

The Sox entered yesterday in first place, at 6-4, and they had attained that status with virtually no production from Manny Ramirez, their cleanup hitter.

Ramirez is batting .194 (7-for-36) with no homers and four RBI over the Sox’ first 10 games.

But there probably shouldn’t be any cause for concern. Slow starts are nothing new recently for Ramirez. A year ago after 10 games, Ramirez was batting .200 (7-for-35) with no homers and two RBI. And he finished the season with 35 homers, 102 RBI and a .321 batting average in 130 games.

skrasner@projo.com