Joe, Tex wouldn't change collision rule
San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) is tended by trainers after a collision with Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins on a fly ball from Emilio Bonifacio during the 12th inning of a baseball game. (May 25, 2011) Credit: AP
SEATTLE -- No one liked seeing what happened to Buster Posey Wednesday night, when a collision at home plate likely cost the young catcher the season, but there wasn't much support in the Yankees' clubhouse for a change of rules.
"I wouldn't because now all of a sudden, players might not be able to get to the plate," said Joe Girardi, who suffered a separated shoulder and broken nose in collisions at home. "If you can't run into them and they're blocking the plate, you may not be able to get to the plate."
Girardi said he would be behind eliminating such collisions during spring training games.
Mark Teixeira has been involved in his share of collisions, including last season, when he went in clean and hard and injured the Angels' Bobby Wilson, and in 2006, when, as a member of the Rangers, he plowed into current teammate Jorge Posada at Yankee Stadium.
"When you have a play at the plate, sometimes collisions are going to happen," Teixeira said. "Same thing when a guy throws 95 [mph] and a guy gets hit. You can't make a rule saying guys can't throw inside."
Good to be King
Saturday night brings a problem the Yankees haven't solved lately: reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez.
Hernandez, 5-4 with a 3.01 ERA this season, is 4-0 with a 0.51 ERA in his last four starts against the Yankees, with three complete games dating to Sept. 18, 2009. "When he's on, he's the best," Teixeira said.
Teixeira is 14-for-47 (.298) with three homers and six RBIs against the righthander, who is 4-2 with a 2.31 ERA in his last seven starts after starting the season 1-2 with a 4.33 ERA.
"I don't want to say I've figured him out,'' Teixeira said, "because I definitely haven't."
Curtis Granderson also has good numbers -- 11-for-34 (.324) with two doubles and a homer, though with 13 strikeouts. "When he's on,'' Granderson said, "nobody can hit him."
