Teixeira makes up for poor hitting with fielding
Photo credit: Newsdya / David L. Pokress | Mark Teixeira stretches to get runner Vladimir Guerrero after a dropped third strike during Game 2 of the ALCS. (October 17, 2009)
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ANAHEIM, Calif. - While addressing Mark Teixeira's offensive struggles in the postseason, Joe Girardi pointed Tuesday afternoon to "the law of averages."
The Yankees manager firmly believes that a career .290 hitter with a .923 OPS eventually will come through because of a track record that Teixeira has built over 4,000 at-bats.
"The law of averages is he's going to start getting some base hits," Girardi said, "and tonight would be a great night to start. But if it doesn't, I know in my heart that it's going to happen.
"Tex is too good of a player to not be productive."
Entering last night's game Teixeira had only one hit in 13 at-bats in the American League Championship Series, and that's on the heels of a Division Series in which he went 2-for-12.
While this is certainly not what the Yankees envisioned as a return on the $180-million contract they gave him last winter, they are taking solace that Teixeira has still been a major contributor with his glove.
In what has been a carry-over from the regular season, Teixeira has made several important plays in the field, most notably in the late innings of the Yankees' 5-4 loss in Game 3 Monday.
And this is nothing new for the Angels. They saw his defensive prowess up close for two months after acquiring him just before the trade deadline in the 2008 season.
"He's one of the players in this league that's not going to take a pitch off defensively," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's going to be in every game because it's two separate parts of what he brings. I can't tell you how impressed we were just seeing him up close in the couple months we had him last year. Just how hard he works on his defense. How much pride he takes in it, and the difference-maker he is."
Perhaps the most impressive play he has made in the field during this Yankees' postseason run came when Bobby Abreu led off the eighth inning of Game 3 by hitting a line drive to the wall in centerfield. Abreu was thinking triple as he took a wide turn around second base, but then thought better of it when he saw the throw coming in. Abreu stopped just as Derek Jeter caught the throw, but he had no shot of making it back to second because Teixeira had hustled to the base and was smartly covering. Just in case.
"I haven't been getting it done offensively so when I can step up and play solid defense it really helps the team out," Teixeira said. He said he always follows the runner to second on a double or triple, because you never know what's going to happen. "Ninety-nine times out of 100, you're not going to get anybody there," he said, "but the one time that you do, it makes it worth it."
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