Teixeira returns to lineup and enjoys big night

Mark Teixeira had never even considered taking another day off.

"I woke up this morning feeling really good and called [hitting coach] Kevin Long right away and said 'Hey, as soon as I get here, we're hitting in the cage just to make sure everything's good,' " said the Yankees first baseman, who sat out Sunday's game against the Chicago White Sox with a bruised right thumb.

Facing Oakland's Trevor Cahill would have been reason enough to sit out another day. The righthander had been 4-1 with a major league-low 0.92 ERA in August and coming into last night, Oakland led the majors with a 2.64 ERA since the All-Star break and had an American League-low ERA of 3.48.

But if Teixeira felt any soreness, he sure didn't show it. He went 3-for-3 and hit his 29th home run off Cahill to help the Yankees cruise to an 11-5 victory last night at the Stadium.

With Derek Jeter on first base with one out in the bottom of the first, Teixeira singled to right-centerfield, then came around to score on a two-run double by Nick Swisher. Teixeira and Robinson Cano teamed up in the third, hitting back-to-back home runs to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

It was the seventh time the Yankees have hit back-to-back homers this season - the last coming last Tuesday in Toronto - and the second time Teixeira and Cano have homered consecutively.

The first baseman also doubled off the left-centerfield wall - just to the right of the 399-foot sign - in the fifth inning and later moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Cano's single.

Teixeira, who hurt his thumb while trying to make a diving stop Friday night and left Saturday's game after two innings, tested his hand in the batting cage before the game and said he was ready to go - even though he felt soreness when he held the bat and swung from both sides of the plate.

"I don't know if there's a game that you play without something be a little tight or a little sore," Teixeira said. "It was a matter of just being good enough to play and yesterday it wasn't. I was going to go out there and not really help the team out. So I wanted to make sure that today I helped the team out. And I swung the bat pretty well."

Said manager Joe Girardi: "Sometimes you worry about the vibration of the bat when you have a bone bruise. We'll check to see how he feels tomorrow."

But Teixeira, who improved his average to .262 with 92 RBIs, didn't hesitate when asked if he expected to be in the lineup Tuesday.

"Oh yeah," he said.