Mark Teixeira Finds Playing in Baseball’s Greatest Rivalry “Boring”
September 1, 2011 · Ben Shapiro · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The Red Sox and Yankees are in the midst of another season in which both teams have legitimate chances to take baseball’s biggest prize. Two teams, age old rivals in a tight divisional race.
Yes, the Red Sox with their 11-3 record against the Yankees probably hold a slight advantage in a head-to-head matchup. That doesn’t mean the results will be some sort of foregone conclusion though. The games won’t be boring will they?
“I can’t stand playing a nine-inning game in four hours. It’s not baseball. I don’t even know how to describe it. If I was a fan, why would I want to come watch people sitting around and talking back and forth, going to the mound, 2-0 sliders in the dirt? Four-hour games can’t be fun for a fan, either,” said Mark Teixeira to the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner on August 31, 2011.
Excuse me for saying this, but if there’s one person in the entire world I refuse to feel sorry for it’s the starting first baseman for the New York Yankees. Teixeira happens to be getting paid in excess of $20 million dollars a year, so is four hours really too long a shift for you? Sure, I know you show up at the ballpark a few hours early and you probably don’t leave for an additional hour after the game is over either.
If that’s not bad enough how about the context in which Teixeira decided to tell everyone how boring his job is? It’s those darn Yankee-Red Sox match-up’s. It must be pure torture to have to play in these games. Stuck in one of baseball’s most passionate cities (either New York or Boston), playing in front of sellout crowds with first place on the line, as well. That sure sounds boring.
Never mind that one of the biggest reasons these games do take time is due in large part to Teixeira’s own hitting strategy. He’s not alone though. The Red Sox and Yankees are currently ranked one and two in teams that see the most pitches. Teixeira is currently the number three ranked player in all of baseball in pitches seen. He’s behind Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and his own teammate Curtis Granderson.
If Teixeira is bored with these games there are a number of solutions: First, he really should start swinging at more pitches and earlier in the count too. If he’s really dedicated he could try and sell his teammates on this. The Yankees are 3-11 against the Red Sox this season, so maybe this strategy will work. Even if it doesn’t work, at the very least it will help alleviate these mundane games that “aren’t even baseball.”
The other solution is that maybe Teixeira should ask for a trade. Maybe he’s had enough of all the winning, the sellouts, the pennant races, the national television appearances and it’s time to move on. Maybe Teixeira should go play in Houston, or Baltimore, or Florida. In those cities he won’t have to face the day-in, day-out drudgery of playing in Boston or New York.
Yes, it sure is rough being Mark Teixeira. Actually there’s one more solution. He could probably trade jobs with 99.9 percent of the population. I can almost guarantee that they won’t find playing first base for the Yankees in these games boring.
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