Yankees Daily

Mark had a great year hitting wise in 2009 for the New York Yankees but it’s his defense he is most proud of. Says Mark, “We have guys that can hit home runs and we have pitchers that can strike guys out. But I saw how playing good first base throughout the season and in the playoffs literally won games for us, and how that allowed us to win a championship.”

His .997 fielding percentage ranked second only to Toronto’s Lyle Overbay.

When you think of Mark Teixeira highlights, you think of the home run bombs he hits but he has been very good with the glove. He’s very accurate with his throws like a short stop.

Mark loves the fact that Don Mattingly won nine golden gloves at first base. When I, myself think about how incredible that is, it blows my mind. Not only do the Yankees have a great hitting first base man, they have some one who plays well around the bag. We are very lucky to have some one like Mark manning first base.

Marc Carig writes for the New York Yankees at the Star Ledger and did and answer and questions with Mark Teixeira that was broken into two parts. If you missed the first part of the questions, go here. It’s questions about all sports. Mark gave an interesting answer in the second part when Marc Carig asked him about the college football post season and Mark said he’d make it an eight game playoff.

I’d say a real big move that worked for Joe Girardi this past year was moving Jeter into the lead off spot and taking Johnny Damon out of it. Derek Jeter is batting .382 in first inning at bats. He has scored 30 runs and has 50 hits. If you compare that to Johnny Damon’s first inning at bats, he’s batting only .233, scored 22 runs and only has 27 hits. Jeter also has a .414 on base percentage in the first inning compared to Damon who has a .326 OBP.

It’s important to have your best hitter batting first in the line up. I haven’t figured out how many times Mark Teixeira drove in Derek Jeter but Mark’s most RBI’s this year came in the first inning. In the first inning, he drove in 23 runs. A-Rod also has the most RBI’s in the first inning with 23 but for some reason A-Rod’s best inning is the fifth inning where’s he’s batting .426.

I remember when people gave Girardi heat over moving Jeter into the lead off spot and moving Damon out of it. It seems to have paid off for the whole year and it made the whole lineup better.

Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira shouldn’t try to be leaders of the Yankees or even feel like leaders.

After all, they were bought. Anyone that signs a free agent contract that costs a gazillion dollars is not a “leader.” It’s phony.

Alex and Tex, you know you signed for the money and not to save a franchise. You shopped yourselves around and took the best offer.(A-Rod in 2007) The Yankees gave it to you. Both of you were almost Red Sox. If you were signed by the Sox, you guys would of pretended you were trying to lead that team. The only thing you guys lead is your check into your banking account.

I’m just bothered by the fact that when another teammate does something great, Alex and Tex cheer lead and stand on the top step and shout and celebrate like it’s “their” team. It’s not. It will never be their team, ever. The standing on the top step, celebrating, pretending that you love your teammate is so phony that it makes me cringe. It’s like they do it because they feel like they have to.

If anyone is allowed to cheer lead for the Yankees, it’s Derek Jeter. He could do what he wants. He’s the captain and he’s a future hall of famer from the farm.

I’ve also noticed that when a pitcher is having a problem, the manager will go to the mound and have a conversation with him. Jeter goes there too but why does A-Rod? Why can’t he stay at third base? Why does he have to be part of every thing? He’s not the captain. This is another phony way Alex likes to pretend he’s part of the team.

There are a lot of real Yankees on the roster right now but I don’t feel like making a corny list.

I don’t like the cheer leading the big name free agents do. I wish they would stop. I don’t even know if they really care about winning a World Series. Sometimes I feel like these baseball players are actors in Scott Boras’ play. It seems they play for the contract, not for the team.

I’ll admit, I am jealous of the life A-Rod gets to lead. I’m jealous of his contract, the fact that he could get any woman he wants, the fact he could live in a big house with a bunch of nice cars and all of his success. I wish I had all of what he has.

I still don’t want to get away from the point of the article. The point is, please stop acting like cheer leaders and stop pretending you care so much when money is the bottom line.

“They can take whatever they want from it from it, but I just kind of got tired of people brushing him back. It’s about time someone made a statement,” Garza said

Garza is upset because pitchers keep throwing at Longoria.

Garza really didn’t make it convincing that he was throwing at Tex.