Teixeira finally has a blast in Yankees win

Mark Teixeira's nimble scoops and midair grabs make it easy to forget just how poorly he's been hitting.

But Sunday, he showed fans he still knows how to crush them.

The first baseman - who stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third inning with a .100 batting average - belted an 0-and-1 fastball from Rich Harden into the second deck in rightfield to end a streak of 40 at-bats without a homer.

It was his second-longest stretch without a home run to start a season; Teixeira went 76 at-bats without one to start the 2007 season but finished with 30.

Teixeira downplayed any significance to his towering blast. When asked if he felt "relieved" to get his first home run out of the way, he replied: "It's probably overstating it a little bit."

He did tie Tampa Bay's Carlos Peña for the American League lead in home runs last season with 39. "I had a pretty good feeling I'd hit one this year," he said.

"Baseball's a game with lots of ups and a lot of downs, and if you get too down, it's going to be tough to have those ups," Teixeira said. "It was good to get this one out of the way, but today doesn't matter anymore. We're going to try to go out and play well on the West Coast and win on Tuesday."

In recent weeks, Teixeira repeatedly has said his stroke would return. Even when his average plummeted to .083 (3-for-36) Friday night, he maintained that the slump would be short-lived, just like the others. Slow starts aren't unusual for him; he was hitting .191 last May 12 but wound up at .292 with a league-leading 122 RBIs.

Aside from the home run, though, Teixeira (1-for-4) couldn't get much going against the Rangers' pitching staff. But although his hitting skills may temporarily have forsaken him, his superb fielding ability remains intact.

He snagged Josh Hamilton's liner for the second out of the third with a runner on second and made a diving, backhanded stop on Matt Treanor's grounder in the fourth.

"It's a huge play," manager Joe Girardi said of the first snag. "You're looking at second and third, one out, with Vladdy Guerrero up. It could have been a really big inning. Tex made a great play. We got accustomed to seeing that last year."

Said winning pitcher Andy Pettitte: "Whether he's hitting or not hitting, he's amazing [at first base] . . . The way he plays defense over there, you don't even worry about it."

Teixeira said being surrounded by talented hitters has taken some of the pressure off his shoulders.

"We have a deep lineup, so we're going to score runs," he said. "But at the same time, not one person - me or anyone else - is ever going to carry the team the whole season."

With Arthur Staple