Teixeira says off days cause postseason struggles
Photo credit: AP Photo | New York Yankees special adviser Reggie Jackson, left, listens to first baseman Mark Teixeira by the batting cage during a team workout at Yankee Stadium Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 in New York.
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Typically someone who won't even say the word "slump," Mark Teixeira not only acknowledged his postseason struggles Tuesday, the Yankees first baseman actually offered a reason for his offensive woes.
Speaking a day after striking out to end Game 5 while representing the potential tying run, Teixeira said he has had a hard time finding his "rhythm" with the quirky postseason schedule filled with days off.
"I don't make excuses," Teixeira said to a large group of reporters swarming his locker before the Yankees' off-day workout. "I'm not going to make excuses because everyone has to deal with it. But being a switch hitter and being a guy who lives off hot streaks and lives off a rhythm, it doesn't help."
Teixeira is 10-for-58 with 16 strikeouts in the postseason, statistics that translate to an underwhelming .172 average, .269 on-base percentage and .310 slugging percentage. And things have been even worse for Teixeira in the World Series: two hits in 19 at-bats.
Obviously this isn't the same hitter who had 39 home runs, drove in 122 runs and posted a .948 OPS during the regular season.
"Over a 162-game schedule, the approach I've had my whole career has always worked," Teixeira said. "When you play a game here, day off, two games, day off . . . um . . . four days off, sometimes that approach doesn't work. So you try to maybe watch a little more tape. Take a few more swings in the cage.
"Hopefully it pays off in the end."
So far the extra work that Teixeira has put in during the many off-days this postseason has not helped him, at least based on Teixeira's poor results. And that had the Yankees first baseman Tuesday publicly questioning the way he was treating his first long postseason from a workplace standpoint.
"You have more time so you're watching more tape and taking more batting practice. Maybe that works against you, I don't know," Teixeira said. "Maybe during the season when you're a little tired and you just go out there and play the game because you've played 20 games in a row, you know, your natural ability takes over. I don't know. But that's the way the playoffs are always going to be."
What makes Teixeira feel better about his play is that the Yankees have a chance to close out the World Series Wednesday night.
"If we were losing games 2-1 and I was leaving a ton of guys on base, I would have been squeezing the life out of the bat," he said. "But my teammates have been picking me up just like I picked them up all season. That's how a team works."
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