No fight in Red Sox

No overreaction by Tavarez. No overreaction by the Red Sox. And that continued into the clubhouse, even though the Sox dropped their second game of the series, 3-1, to the Angels, earning a split as the Yankees beat Detroit and gained another game in the standings, shrinking the American League East lead to four games.

"I don't really care what people's nerves are," Dustin Pedroia said. "We've got a four-game lead with [38] games left. It's better than being four behind, or in somebody else's situation. We've got to go play well and just keep going.

"Why wouldn't we [have confidence]? We've got the best record in baseball. Let off the panic button a little bit, you know what I mean?"

Hard to do. Especially with the Sox offense being stymied yet again, this time by Joe Saunders. On a day when their fill-in starter, Tavarez, pitched well enough to win, the offense just didn't hit well enough. No comebacks, either.

After Tavarez allowed two runs in the first inning, with Chone Figgins (single) scoring on a single by Vladimir Guerrero and Cabrera (walk) scoring on a fielder's choice by Gary Matthews, the righthander held the Angels hitless for his remaining five innings. He did need help to emerge without further damage in the first, relying on an outstanding back-bending catch by Bobby Kielty to prevent a Casey Kotchman shot from landing in the visitor's bullpen.

Tavarez's line? Six innings, two runs, two walks, two strikeouts. And that one hit batter.

"You always run the risk of throwing a spot starter in there and getting to your bullpen very early, which can kind of backfire," manager Terry Francona said. "We didn't win the game, but we didn't go through our bullpen. [Tavarez] gave us a very strong outing and it allows us over the next couple weeks to not only align our rotation but try to give them proper rest and balanced rest."

But even as good as Tavarez was -- with help from exceptional defense by Pedroia at second -- Saunders was better. Or, as Francona allowed, he was "too impressive."

"He was cutting the ball in on righties," Pedroia said. "He was doing it to lefties, too. The last time we faced them, he was mainly away [in another win, Aug. 7 in Anaheim]. Today he kind of pounded us in a lot."