Vicente Padilla
Mark Teixeira stood at home plate as his home run off Vicente Padilla landed deep in the right-center-field seats.
It was easy to figure out what he was doing as he tied last night’s game against the Red Sox in the bottom of the eighth inning: The first baseman was relishing a dramatic home run off the pitcher he has publicly feuded with and accused of head-hunting.
But Teixeira wouldn’t admit it.
“It felt good,” Teixeira said after the Red Sox ended up beating the Yankees, 8-6. “I just wanted to make sure it was fair. Balls were hooking a lot.”
Teixeira’s theory was harder to believe than the JFK Magic Bullet Theory. The two have had issues because Padilla hit Teixeira the first two times he faced him and caused Teixeira to get drilled repeatedly by throwing at opposing hitters when they played together in Texas.
Even after repeated questioning, Teixeira refused to acknowledge he stared at the home run against the pitcher he has had a war of words with since becoming a Yankee — one that escalated this season.
Earlier this month in Boston, Padilla fired back at Teixeira, saying Teixeira should play a “women’s sport” and accusing the first baseman of having problems with Latin teammates.
No one has backed up Padilla’s comments, and Teixeira refused to up the ante yesterday.
Asked if their history played a role in the homer, Teixeira said: “Absolutely not. … I’ve got Robbie Cano behind me. [Padilla’s] not gonna want to mess around there. I’m just trying to tie the game up.”
He said he couldn’t afford to go up to the plate thinking about their past problems.
“Emotions are part of the game, but if you let emotions get the best of you — especially as a hitter — you swing too hard or at pitches over your head,” Teixeira said. “It does no good.”
Padilla refused to engage in the conversation, either, saying he wouldn’t talk about the play: “About what? One bad day?”
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine stood by his decision to let Padilla face Teixeira.
“He’s gotten him out more than he’s hit a home run,” Valentine said of Padilla, who has now surrendered three homers to Teixeira.
Though Teixeira would not say the blast meant more to him than others, his teammates could tell otherwise.
“Everyone knows the history between those two,” Chris Stewart said. “They don’t like each other. It was awesome.
“He enjoyed the moment. He tied the game up against a guy that said some stuff about him that wasn’t true.”
Teixeira didn’t look at Padilla as he rounded the bases. The two haven’t spoken, and Teixeira doesn’t anticipate that changing.
“There’s no problem,” Teixeira said. “If he hits me again, there might be a problem. Until then, play baseball.”