MLB

Teixeira exits early, flies home after wrist flares up in Yankees loss

MARK TEIXEIRA
Season over?

MARK TEIXEIRA
Season over? (Getty Images)

HALO NO! Losing pitcher David Phelps reacts after allowing Erick Aybar’s second-inning homer in the Yankees’ 6-2 defeat to the Angels yesterday. (
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ANAHEIM — A West Coast trip that started well has developed into a skull-scalding nightmare that could signal the beginning of the end to the Yankees’ season.

Not only did the Yankees’ losing streak grow to five after the Angels topped them, 6-2, at Angel Stadium yesterday in front of 40,486, first baseman Mark Teixeira left the game in the fourth inning with a flareup of the right wrist problem that forced him to miss the opening two months of the season.

Teixeira flew home last night and will be examined by Dr. Chris Ahmad today with season-ending surgery a possibility.

Since coming back and playing in 15 games, the switch-hitting Teixeira has experienced discomfort hitting left-handed.

“I don’t know if he has been right since he has been here,’’ hitting coach Kevin Long said of Teixeira, who went 0-for-2 before removing himself from the game.

In 15 games, Teixeira is hitting .151 (8-for-53) with three homers and 12 RBIs.

“A big part of his routine is tee work, and he hasn’t been able to do that,’’ Long said.

Manager Joe Girardi said the decision to fly Teixeira home yesterday instead of him traveling with the club following today’s game is so “he can be seen as quickly as possible.’’

Yet, the Yankees having Teixeira examined today is an indication it’s serious.

When Teixeira suffered the injury in early March there was a 30 percent chance he would require surgery. If surgery is needed now, he is done for the season.

After winning three of four in Seattle to open a 10-game, three-city trip the Yankees are 3-6 entering today’s get-away date with the Angels. The five straight losses tie a season high.

The defeat dropped the third-place Yankees four games behind the AL East-leading Red Sox, their largest deficit this season.

Losing Teixeira came a day after the Yankees placed corner infielder Kevin Youkilis, who has played six games at first, on the disabled list with a lower back problem.

Teixeira and Youkilis join Curtis Granderson as players who got hurt, went on the DL, and were injured when they returned.

“We were talking about it, about the ‘B’ squad back in action,’’ Long said of Lyle Overbay, who will play first, and left fielder Vernon Wells. “They are the same guys who got us to 12 games over [.500].’’

In what has become a daily occurrence, the Yankees failed to score enough. They have scored 18 runs in the past eight games.

The most frustrating moment came in the seventh. With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Ichiro Suzuki opened with a bunt single and stole second and third. Ninety feet away from home with no outs, the Yankees failed to plate him because Thomas Neal, Reid Brignac (looking) and Chris Stewart struck out.

“You think you have a shot,’’ said Girardi, who didn’t have Neal or Brignac attempt a squeeze bunt.

David Phelps (4-4) absorbed the loss. In six-plus innings, he allowed four runs and nine hits.

“It was one of the worst jobs I did all season managing a baseball game,’’ said Phelps, who allowed five of seven leadoff hitters to reach base. “They gave me a lead and I gave it right back.’’

Maybe the ‘B’ squad has a second act to it. And it’s not as if Youkilis and Teixeira were sizzling.

But remember Overbay and Wells, who is in an 8-for-77 (.104) slide, were part of the Smoke & Mirrors act that is rarely sustainable across an extended period of time.