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New York Yankees: Mark Teixeira Not Healing As Fast As Hoped

By Kenneth Teape

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The New York Yankees offense finally woke up Friday evening, blowing out the hapless Atlanta Braves 15-4 in the weekend series opener. The Yankees have been waiting for the offense to get back on track, as their struggles at the plate are as big a reason as any as why they find themselves behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East division race at this time.

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A big reason for the lack of punch from the lineup is the loss of Mark Teixeira. Teixeira originally suffered the injury August 17th against the Minnesota Twins, when he fouled a ball off his leg. It resulted in what the Yankees called a shin bruise, so he sat out until their series against the Houston Astros. He was able to start the Tuesday disaster when the Yankees lost 15-1, but couldn’t return to the lineup for the next day, being able to only pinch hit.

Teixeira was also out of the lineup for the first game in the weekend series against one of his old teams in the Braves. The Yankees are now getting nervous about Teixeira’s health again, as his shin isn’t healing as he had hoped.

“Not as good as I hoped. Running is still a big struggle for me. I can’t run. It’s very frustrating. It’s not where it needs to be.”

Prior to Friday’s game, Teixeira had a litany of tests lined up by the Yankees’ medical staff for the leg. Interestingly enough, none of those tests included an MRI, CT-Scan or X-Ray, as a Braves doctor diagnosed him as well.

“I saw the doctor for 20 minutes. He said there’s a lot of inflammation surrounding the bone, and that’s what’s causing the pain in the soft tissue, nerves and ligaments, not allowing me to run,” Teixeira said. He also added, “I thought it was as simple as needing a little bit more time. The day off [Thursday] should have taken care of that. It’s not that simple because it’s not any better.”

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Teixeira believes that the inflammation in his leg was caused by the running he did while testing out his injury. The discomfort was considered serious according to Teixeira, who looks like he could be sidelined for a period of time.

“I was probably too aggressive early on and that probably caused the inflammation. It’s serious pain. I know the difference between serious pain and sore. That’s what worried me.”

Teixeira is not the only person worried about the injury, as manager Joe Girardi expressed his concern as well. Without his cleanup hitter and Gold Glove first baseman, Girardi is put in a tough position to try replacing that production. “I think we’re all concerned because we thought we would have had a player. For whatever reason, he’s still sore. We’ll continue to find out what’s going on.”

Teixeira leads the Yankees in home runs and RBI on the season with 31 and 79 respectively. Outside of his heroics replacing Teixeira and the domination of the Twins following that, Gregory Bird has left much to be desired.

He has been unable to replace the production of Teixeira, which isn’t an easy task for anyone. But without their cleanup hitter and best run producer, the Yankees could fall out of the AL East race as the Blue Jays continue to roll.

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