Despite the epic struggles Mark Teixeira endured in April and May, his season is going exactly as planned.
Although not as notable as Derek Jeter's milestone, Teixeira's fifth inning home run gave him something to celebrate. Tex became just the fourth player in baseball history to hit at least 25 homers in his first eight seasons.
It was easy to overlook his early season struggles because the starting pitching was so superb that they didn't need a lot of runs. But now that his starters are battling injuries, illness and inconsistency, Tex picked the right time to get hot. He has blasted five homers and knocked in 12 ribbies in the last 10 games, helping the New York Yankees stay afloat during a tough stretch against the team's chief rivals.
The Yankees first baseman took some heat for referring people to the back of his baseball card to judge his productivity when he got questions about his slow start. Turns out he was exactly right. His home run and ribbie totals, both in the top five in the American League, will end up very close to his usual annual marks.
Tex is rather quietly having quite a career. His overall numbers are pretty impressive: .287 batting average, 267 homers and 882 ribbies. He's starting to make a quiet, but solid case for himself for inclusion into the Baseball Hall of Fame and since he only just turned 30, he has plenty of time to pad those numbers.
But most importantly, his team is in first place and Tex is making progress toward winning his second World Series championship. For Tex, things are going exactly as planned.
Although not as notable as Derek Jeter's milestone, Teixeira's fifth inning home run gave him something to celebrate. Tex became just the fourth player in baseball history to hit at least 25 homers in his first eight seasons.
It was easy to overlook his early season struggles because the starting pitching was so superb that they didn't need a lot of runs. But now that his starters are battling injuries, illness and inconsistency, Tex picked the right time to get hot. He has blasted five homers and knocked in 12 ribbies in the last 10 games, helping the New York Yankees stay afloat during a tough stretch against the team's chief rivals.
The Yankees first baseman took some heat for referring people to the back of his baseball card to judge his productivity when he got questions about his slow start. Turns out he was exactly right. His home run and ribbie totals, both in the top five in the American League, will end up very close to his usual annual marks.
Tex is rather quietly having quite a career. His overall numbers are pretty impressive: .287 batting average, 267 homers and 882 ribbies. He's starting to make a quiet, but solid case for himself for inclusion into the Baseball Hall of Fame and since he only just turned 30, he has plenty of time to pad those numbers.
But most importantly, his team is in first place and Tex is making progress toward winning his second World Series championship. For Tex, things are going exactly as planned.
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