On Teix's Wrist Injury

Small picture, Mark Teixeira's continued wrist problems are a nuisance but not the end of the world.  He responded well to the first bit of rest and the cortisone shot and was able to come back and be relatively productive for the last 2 weeks (.259/.328/.463  in 59 PA) in a time where the middle of the Yankee batting order has been without some of it's important bats. 

Big picture, it could become more of a problem if allowed to turn into something that lingers.  Teix has been productive this month, but not nearly to the degree that he was in July.  His power is down, he isn't walking as much (8.2 %), and less than 3 weeks after the initial injury he's back to experiencing the same pain and inflammation as before and missing games.  It's starting to look like this is something more than just inflammation and soreness, and Teix playing every day can't be a good thing for it.  He said he originally hurt himself on a swing, so I imagine it can't feel too good for him every time he swings the bat.  All the initial tests showed no structural damage to the wrist, but what's to say that he isn't doing damage to it now or at least risking damaging it.  Is it really worth the risk of having a broken Teixeira in the playoffs or even losing him to not treat this injury properly?

Game 119 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 BOS 4

(That swing doesn't suck.  Courtesy of The AP)

Weather looked like it was going to be a factor in last night's game from the get go, and it was a little bit early, but the Yankees found out before the game that Mark Teixeira wasn't going to be.  The re-emergence of his wrist inflammation has to be a concern for the Yankees, and as they have for most of this season, they found themselves in a shorthanded situation.  But as has happened most of the time this season, the rest of the lineup stepped up without one of their big pieces and got the job done to support a pretty darn good Phil Hughes, who had one bad inning in an otherwise dominant start.

Game Notes:

- Franklin Morales didn't get off to the start he wanted, giving up 3 solo HR in the first 2 innings.  Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Russell Martin all teed him up to make it 3-0 Yanks.

- Hughes got off to a great start through the first 2 innings, but it came off the rails quickly after he threw a ball away in the 3rd.  To a certain degree, I can understand him getting rattled because that was an AWFUL throw.  It put runners on the corners with no outs and ended with Dustin Pedrooyyyyahhhh hitting a 3-run homer to put Bahhston on top 4-3.

- The Captain continued to rake from the leadoff spot, hitting a 1-out homer in the bottom of the 5th to tie the game up at 4-4 and give him an even 250 for his career.  Impressively, it was on an inside fastball that he turned on and smoked into the left field bleachers.

- To his credit, Hughes shook off the bad 3rd inning, got it together, and worked through the next 4 innings without issue.  He gave up just 2 hits, got 5 of his last 6 outs on the ground, and got a boost from Jayson Nix's 6th inning single that gave the Yankees the lead back.

- One of Hughes' problems lately has been predictability in his pitch selection.  He has gotten away from his changeup, but he threw it a lot last night (29 times out of 106 pitches) and it was very effective to righties.

- Swish gave the Yankees their first run in the 1st and he gave them their last in the 7th on his second solo homer of the night.  He hit one from each side of the plate and is really starting to look locked in from each side.

- Hughes did the job through 7, and D-Rob and Sour Puss worked the 8th and 9th with relative ease to secure the win.  1 down, 2 to go to end the Fraud Sawx's season.