Teixeira hot despite the cold

If Mark Teixeira keeps up this pace, with nearly half the month to go, his April could be frozen in time. As it is, he's happy to have five home runs and even happier that he is not frozen solid.

Yankee Stadium on Saturdaywas windier, wetter and more raw than it was for the Pinstripe Bowl in late December. In those conditions, a batter has to trick his mind into getting his swing warmed up.

"One inning at a time, really," Teixeira said. "If you start thinking, 'OK, I've got to be out here for three hours, nine innings,' it's going to be a miserable day. So it's just one inning at a time, just try to score some runs, keep at it."

It helps when you can do it before frostbite sets in. Teixeira set a balmy tone for the Yankees' 5-2 win over the Rangers with a two-run home run in the first inning. His opposite-field liner through a formidable wind cleared the rightfield fence, tying his April home run total in the previous two years combined.

Starting hot is his new theme. He is batting only .234, but that is much better than the .136 April he heard so much about in 2010, and he does have a solid .574 slugging percentage. But his beginning isn't measured only by the calendar but by the scoreboard. All of his home runs have come within the first three innings.

Teixeira -- who also had a third-inning sacrifice fly, giving him 14 RBIs in 13 games -- does not consider it a coincidence that he has done his damage early. "In the mid-innings,'' he said, "you feel freezing and stiff."

Standing in the climate-controlled clubhouse afterward, he said of the opening innings, "To be honest with you, you come out from in here, you've been working in the cages for a couple hours, you get loose. By the mid-innings, you can't feel your hands or feet. That's why you've got to get out early."

"Tex obviously got off to a blazing start, then kind of cooled off a little bit and now he's really trying to find that groove again," said Nick Swisher, who preceded Teixeira's two big at-bats with a single and double. "Us switch hitters, we feel good on the right side right now."

Feeling good anywhere required extra concentration Saturday. "This is kind of like hockey weather,'' Swisher said. "Kudos to the fans for coming out today."

Curtis Granderson felt lucky that when he broke two bats, his hands didn't sting all afternoon. He used hand-warmers and asked teammates to hang on to his batting gloves when he was in the field to keep them warm. "In Chicago, that was the way we played," he said of his youth baseball days. "Everyone says, 'You're used to it.' But cold is cold."

And Teixeira is hot -- for now. "There's never one point in the season where you say, 'The swing's good, don't work anymore,' " he said. "Every single day is a challenge. Right now, I feel good."