NEW YORK -- Yankees fans who curse Carl Pavano might have a hard time believing this, but their booing and jeering pales in comparison to the criticism he heaps upon himself sometimes, right in the dugout.
Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said the team usually knows how Pavano's going to pitch based on how much he's muttering in the early innings.
"I kind of just fire myself up and pick at myself a little bit," Pavano said. "You don't want get too complacent. I'm better when my back's against the wall, so I kind of put myself in that position."
Pavano hasn't had much to complain about lately. He's too busy outperforming some of the best pitchers in the game.
Five days after helping the Twins overcome Roy Halladay with a four-hitter at Philadelphia, Pavano tossed a three-hitter against the Mets, as the Twins embarrassed old pal Johan Santana in a 6-0 victory at Citi Field.
ADVERTISEMENT
It's the first time in Pavano's career that he has pitched back-to-back complete games. In between his starts, the Twins lost a season-high four games.
"Carl picked us up big-time today," Gardenhire said.
Pavano (9-6) has been doing that all year, pitching at least seven innings in 12 of his 15 starts and compiling a 3.33 ERA.
At age 34, he's having his best season since 2004, when he went 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA for Florida. That helped him get a four-year, $40 million contract from the Yankees, and thanks to injuries and insults, those became four bitter years.
"I'm a lot older than in '04," he said. "That was a long time ago. It's just nice to be able to go deep into games and to feel like you're getting stronger as the year goes along. That's one difference that I haven't felt in a while. My stuff's getting better as the year's going on."
That's a good sign for the Twins, who re-signed Pavano to a one-year, $7 million deal last winter after getting him from Cleveland in an August trade. Saturday was supposed to be Santana's day as he made his first regular-season start against the Twins.
But the Twins jumped on the two-time Cy Young Award winner for four first-inning runs, getting RBI hits from Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young. After throwing 41 pitches that inning, Santana composed himself and got through the sixth inning, with the Mets trailing 5-0.
Pavano was at 101 pitches after the eighth inning. Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson left it up to Pavano to decide whether he wanted to go back for the ninth. He wrapped up his sixth career shutout -- and first this year -- with nine more pitches.
ADVERTISEMENT
By the late innings, there was very little muttering.
"He was not critiquing himself as much -- just his hitting," Gardenhire said.
Actually, Pavano was pretty good at the plate, too. After going 1-for-3 in the Twins' 4-1 victory over Philadelphia last Sunday, he went 2-for-3 vs. the Mets.
How confident are the Twins with Pavano on the mound?
"About as confident as we feel with him in the batter's box," first baseman Justin Morneau said. "He's pretty good."
