Sunday insider and 7th-inning stretch

Tex's tough times

This is Mark Teixeira's ninth year in the big leagues, and his seventh in which he'll spend the entire season with one club. In all but one of those, 2006 with the Rangers, he has put up dramatically better numbers at home than on the road.

This year, that has proven somewhat problematic because Teixeira's numbers are down overall. On the road, Teixeira has a .321 on-base percentage and .439 slugging percentage, compared with .366 and .563 at home through Friday.

"My whole career, it's been like that," Teixeira said. "I love playing at home, love sleeping in my own bed. You get more rest. You see your family. There's a batter's box that you're accustomed to.

"You have more time to get work done at home. You have better weight rooms. Better cages. I love playing at home. I think that shows with my career numbers, home and away."

Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long said he didn't think Yankee Stadium's friendly confines gave Teixeira any bad habits that he took on the road. Rather, Long attributed Teixeira's overall struggles -- which are primarily from the lefthanded side -- to a timing issue.

"What we're thankful for is that he's hit home runs and driven home runs," Long said. "But the .240 [batting average], that's way too low for him, the type of player he is.

"He's the first one in the cage," Long added of Teixeira. "He's working hard and we're trying to get him to get in that [closed-feet] position [from the left side] a little sooner so he can react."

Dual-identity Rays

If Tampa Bay played in either of the other two American League divisions -- or in the entire National League -- its season would be alive and well.

But the Rays reside in the AL East. And that means that, even as they've excelled relative to their payroll, they could be trading away some veterans this week.

"We never like to classify ourselves as buyers. We never like to classify ourselves as sellers," said Andrew Friedman, Tampa Bay's executive vice president of baseball operations. "It's something, I think, our calculus is a little different than most teams. We're constantly trying to juggle our roster to extend our competitive cycle for as long as we can."

Johnny Damon, Kyle Farnsworth and B.J. Upton are among those who could be playing elsewhere by Aug. 1. The Rays will entertain offers on All-Star starting pitcher James Shields because they'll listen to anything, but they're inclined to keep the righthander, who is signed to a reasonable contract featuring team options for each of the next three years.

The Rays' Opening Day payroll was about $41 million, according to USA Today; that's roughly 25 percent of the Red Sox's $161 million and 20 percent of the Yankees' $202 million. Their attendance in the decomposing, poorly located Tropicana Field is down despite capturing the AL East last year.

It seems to get only more difficult for the Rays. Yet given Friedman's history of shrewd transactions and their still impressive base talent, you can expect to see them holding their own against the Yankees and Red Sox soon enough.

"If you're too conservative, then you'll end up on the hamster wheel in perpetuity," Friedman said. "We have to be bold. We can't be afraid of making mistakes."

M's young guns

The Yankees will open a series Monday night with Seattle, so we'll see up close just how bad the Mariners are. Third-year general manager Jack Zduriencik doesn't have a contract for next year, and club officials under Zduriencik are concerned that team ownership will execute a change this coming offseason.

That would be a mistake; though life might be painful watching the big-league club, the team's first two drafts under Zduriencik -- spearheaded by director of amateur scouting Tom McNamara -- already are producing fruit.

Dustin Ackley, the Mariners' first pick (second overall) of the 2009 draft, is starting at second base for Seattle and playing well. Shortstop Nick Franklin, selected 27th overall in that '09 draft, put together a very good 2010 but will miss the rest of the season with mononucleosis. Third baseman Kyle Seager, picked in the third round of '09, also is up in the majors.

On the pitching front, lefthander James Paxton, a fourth-round pick last year, is excelling with Double-A Jackson, and righthander Taijuan Walker, a sandwich-round pick from 2010, is pitching very well for Class A Clinton.

"We feel good about it," McNamara said, and Mariners ownership should, too. No matter how bad things seem at the big-league level.

Pop quiz

Name the actor who portrayed both Reggie Jackson in the TV miniseries "The Bronx is Burning" and a gay baseball player in the Broadway play "Take Me Out."

ANSWER BELOW

Three teams "running" the trade deadline

1. Mets. Carlos Beltran is the highest-impact player available.

2. Padres. There are plenty of relievers available, yet Padres closer Heath Bell is the best.

3. Athletics. Josh Willingham will help someone, as would relievers Grant Balfour and Craig Breslow.

Three hot properties who will probably not get traded

1. Jose Reyes, Mets. The team at least will keep alive the possibility of re-signing him.

2. Hunter Pence, Astros. He's too much of an asset for the Astros to let him go.

3. Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies. Although, of these three, he's the most likely to get dealt.

Quote of the week

"He's right. We do need a new ballpark. He's absolutely right. And he's right, this ballpark is improper for major-league baseball."

-- Rays manager Joe Maddon, agreeing with ESPN broadcaster John Kruk's criticisms of Tropicana Field.

Pop quiz answer

Daniel Sunjata. Thanks to former Giants and Royals pitcher Bob Tufts for the suggestion.