SAN FRANCISCO – Chicago Cubs pitcher Julian Tavarez, angry at being booed at Pacific Bell Park on Saturday, referred to fans with a profanity and a term derogatory toward gays.

	Tavarez

"They should come here to enjoy the game and be happy the Giants won," he said of the fans, who jeered him throughout the Cubs' 5-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Tavarez, who used to play for the Giants, got into a fight with San Francisco third baseman Russ Davis during a spring training game on March 26. Thinking Tavarez was taunting him after striking out, Davis charged the mound.

Davis had just returned to action Friday night after serving a two-game suspension for the bench-clearer. Tavarez was suspended five games and fined $1,000.

Tavarez was booed loudly by the crowd Saturday whenever he batted. He also was taunted when he ran to tag out Marvin Benard in the third inning, rather than tossing the ball to first baseman Julio Zuleta.

"I didn't have anything against Benard and he has nothing against me," Tavarez said. "It was a normal play, a comebacker."

Benard wasn't bothered.

"A guy like that, when he gets on the mound, he gets in his own world," Benard said. "That's his competitive edge, you know. You can't take that away from him."

Tavarez (2-1) allowed all five runs and eight hits in five innings. He said the spring training brawl did not affect the game, although Davis did hit a run-scoring double off him in the first inning.

"I just got behind in the count too much," he said. "Emotions weren't involved. It didn't bother me at all, I wasn't thinking about what happened in spring training."

Davis, too, said the March melee was not an issue.

"I've got respect for the guy. I really do," he said. "What happened at spring training is behind us."

Tavarez said the fans started razzing him Friday night as he sat in the bullpen. He maintained some threw eggs at him.

"I played here three years and never had a problem. We're not mean to the fans. I always sign autographs," he said. "Now they have the right to throw eggs in the bullpen? That's not right."

Tavarez's confrontation Saturday was the third ugly incident in three days involving visiting players and fans at Pac Bell.

On Friday, the Cubs' dugout emptied when there was a disturbance with fans near the bullpen.

On Thursday, Cincinnati Reds first baseman Dmitri Young challenged a small group of heckling fans to wait for him after the game.

Young, who wouldn't repeat the fans' comments, waited outside the Reds' clubhouse for the fans, who never showed up.

"It's one thing to heckle, but when you start getting personal, that's crossing the line," Young said. "They were just trying to be comedians, and we're trying to be professional, and you have all these kids out there who see that and think it's OK."