You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry

It was the second time Teixeira had been hit in the game. He was visibly fuming, and the entire dugout was on alert as Girardi tried to calm him down on his slow walk to first base. Tex got his revenge pretty quickly, A-Rod hit a slow grounder to second, Kinsler flipped the ball to Andrus at second, and Tex buried him, breaking up the double play and allowing Jeter to score his 1,500th run to tie the game. The Yanks would tack on another 6 runs with two outs that inning, then another three for good measure to bring the final score to 12-3, Bombers.

The offensive explosion wasn't enough payback for this Bombers team, though. No warning was issued when Padilla drilled Teixeira, so A.J. Burnett basically had a freebie waiting for him when he took the mound. In the top of the fifth, Hank Blalock flew out harmlessly to lead the inning off, then Nelson Cruz stepped to the plate. The first pitch was a slider down, then Posada called for a fastball away. Burnett threw anything but. His fastball sailed by Cruz's face at about 95MPH. Both teams were warned and the rest of the game played out without incident. While I love the fact that Burnett didn't let Padilla's transgressions go unpunished, I have two problems with how he evened the ledger. First, you don't throw at the guy's head. Perhaps the ball got away from him, but you have to make sure you don't put it in the guy's mouth. Second, when you have a freebie, you take it. You hit him. Preferably in the back. You don't almost hit him, or just miss him. It's not payback unless the guy feels it.

As for the rest of the game, it was pretty mundane. Jorge Posada finished 3/4 with a LONG bomb and 4 RBI. It's a good thing he produced with his bat, too, because he's being abused on defense. The Rangers are stealing at will on Posada's surgically repaired shoulder and he just can't get the job done behind the dish. If the stolen bases weren't bad enough, Posada also broke the Yanks' string of 18 consecutive error-free games when he threw a ball into center field hopelessly trying to gun down Elvis Andrus at second in the top of the fourth.

Listen, I hope Posada's arm is a temporary thing. I hope he's simply working the shoulder back into shape. If this is it, if he's going to throw like this, he's not fit to catch. I don't care how well he hits, teams are going to eat him alive on the basepaths.

A.J. Burnett gave the Yanks seven decent innings for his third win of the season, not much else to say about his effort. Tomko and Veras finished the Rangers off with two clean innings.

Player of The Game: Posada's bat
Team Record: 32-21
Up Next: Pettitte vs. Feldman tomorrow night.