He can seem almost robotic at times, but we found out Tuesday night that Mark Teixeira's blood can run hot, and more and more he is looking like exactly the type of player the Yankees needed to bring a championship back to the Bronx.
Already Teixeira had upgraded the Yankees' fielding so dramatically as to help set a major league record with 18 straight errorless games, and carried the team with a 14-game hitting streak to the tune of a .397 batting average with eight homers and 20 RBI.
And then on the night that both streaks end, Teixeira made perhaps the play of the game with a hard slide that broke up a double play, allowing the Yankees to go on to a big inning and a 12-3 win over the Rangers.
So maybe Teixeira, emotionless as he seems to be most of the time, will help instill a little more fire in this team. He said he takes pride in playing the game "even-keeled," but when Hideki Matsui smashed a three-run homer to break the game open in that same fourth inning, Teixeira erupted in the dugout, celebrating with a purpose.
Then when A.J. Burnett sailed a fastball over Nelson Cruz's head in the top of the fifth, clearly a way of telling the Rangers to stop messing with his teammate, it seemed that maybe the Yankees were ready to play hardball in ways that have been missing before Burnett and Teixeira showed up. We'll see where it goes from here, especially with the Red Sox on the schedule next week, but for now the Yankees suddenly look like a team ready to make big noise this season.
There's no doubt that replacing Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi with Nick Swisher and Teixeira, respectively, has had a huge impact defensively.
But beyond pitching and defense, some intangible has been missing since the Yankees stopped winning championships nearly a decade ago. Who knew Teixeira might be the one to bring that vibe back?
Toughness has certainly been something that was missing from this team in the past few seasons, and it's great to see it back.... Oh, and Burnett's brushback pitches help too.
5 Comments:
Oh man, I remember that game in the picture. One of the most exciting comebacks I've seen in a regular season game.
But yeah, I feel Teix is absolutely perfect for this team.
Yea, I think they were down 9-0 at one point thanks to a terrible outing by Shawn Chacon.
Yeah, that was the game. I was at it. The comeback from 9 runs down matched the biggest comeback in Yankees history and I was at two of them.
Tex plowed Posada at the plate but Posada got the last laugh on Texas by hitting a game winning, two run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Damn, that brings back a great memories of the old Stadium.
I love the brushback pitch by Burnett. I think Joba would do the same.
Tex and Burnett clearly add something that was missing. As big as the play that broke up the double play was, I think the brush back is even bigger. It also provides some leadership amongst the younger guy's like Joba and Phil and even Wang. Play the game the right way and protect your teammates and good things will happen.
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