New scenery has not helped Yu Darvish break out of his World Series funk.

The first-year Cubs pitcher is struggling to overcome fan criticism as he battles to find his stride on the mound this season, Cubs teammate and catcher Chris Gimenez confided to the Chicago-Sun Times this week.

Darvish, who signed a six-year, $126 million deal this offseason to add star power to the Cubs rotation, has started just eight games for Chicago after his shortlived Dodgers stint ended with two nightmarish starts (Games 3 and 7) during Los Angeles’ loss to the Astros in the World Series last year.

Gimenez, also in his first year with the Cubs, said he’s tried to offer Darvish words of encouragement, especially after the right-hander landed on the DL for the second time this season with inflammation in his triceps.

“I think he thinks that Chicago hates him for going on the DL a couple of times,” Gimenez said. “I’ve tried to portray to him, ‘Listen, they’re going to love you when we get to October and we’re doing the things that we all want to do here, you’re the main reason we’re doing it and we’re riding you all the way through it.

“So don’t worry about them getting mad at you on Twitter in May. Worry about when we get to September, October and they’re chanting your name.”

Darvish would sure like that chance to redeem himself in the postseason. After posting wins in his first two playoff games with the Dodgers last season, the pitcher who was acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline failed to make it past the second inning of his two World Series starts. The dagger came in Game 7, when he gave up four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings, sending the Dodgers to a 5-1 loss and World Series disappointment.

“This pain,” Darvish said at the time, “is going to stay in me for a while.”

This year, the 31-year-old from Japan is 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA — the highest of his six-year MLB career — for the second-place Cubs. For a shy guy, Gimenez said, Darvish’s internal fire pushes him to return to All-Star form.

“I know that it rubs him the wrong way,” Gimenez said of Darvish’s early-season struggles. “He is champing at the bit to come back and show everybody what he can do. And I think that’s just coming off last year — he was so irked at how it ended. He didn’t do what his team needed him to do at the end of the year, and he feels the weight of that burden on him and really wants to get out there and prove to everybody that he can be the man.”

And as the season wears on, he said, Darvish’s opponents, beware.

“An extreme competitor,” Gimenez said of his teammate. “When he’s on the mound, he wants to eat you for breakfast. He really does.”