Waiting for a Tex message to send

Following the Yanks’ 5-3 loss to the Halos on Wednesday, Mark Teixeira is hitting (put on your surprised hats) .097/.263/.129 through 34 plate appearances in April. This should shock nobody because Tex is notorious for having awful Aprils, especially last year. It should be noted that all of his three hits (3-for-31 on the year) came in one game — a 10-0 win over the Rays (CC’s almost no-hitter).

What can you do with a three-hitter that just won’t hit? Well, you could wait out the seemingly-annual slump or you could move him down in the lineup. RAB explored the latter, which I definitely think is an interesting idea…that will never happen.

If Joe G were to switch the order, the lineup would be:

1. Jeet
2. Nick The Stick
3. A-Rod
4. Robbie Cano
5. Georgie
6. Tex
7. Grandy
8. Swish Dog
9. Gardner

I think it would be fun to see how the team responds to such a change, but I don’t think it will ever happen for a few reasons. First, Tex is too valuable at the three-hole (that’s what she said) and you never know when he’s going to start hitting. What if he starts hitting tomorrow, or Saturday, or Tuesday? We’re dealing with a small sample size here people; we’re only eight games into the season, let’s not slit our wrists just yet. Next, is Tex mentally strong enough to deal with a move like that (ie when A-Rod was moved to the eighth spot in the playoffs) and would he hold a grudge against Girardi? That wouldn’t be good to mess with the team’s morale coming off a World Series win. Finally, it’s not like this April swoon is an aberration. Tex has been having shitty Aprils since…damn near his whole career. So I think this is one slump the Yanks will just have to wait out.

However, with Cano and Posada hitting out of their minds, the move couldn’t hurt. But will those two torrid streaks last?

I don’t think it’s necessary to mess with the team’s makeup just yet. If Tex isn’t putting up his usual numbers by mid-May, then we can start to panic. In all fairness to Tex, he isn’t the only one struggling. A-Rod, everyone’s favorite former goat, went 0-for-3 with 3 Ks Wednesday and is hitting “only” .257/.316/.429. Plus neither the 3 nor 4 hitters for the Yanks have went yard yet this season.

However, you can’t really complain about slow starts when the team is 5-3 (including 4-2 on the road against division foes) while Robbie Cano and Georgie (among others) are tearing it up. Imagine what will happen when A-Rod and Tex start putting up numbers like they are capable of. Damn, watch out.