Perhaps it is possible. Maybe Mark Teixeira can be counted on again.
One of the Yankees’ biggest question marks coming into the season, the oft-injured, oft-slumping first baseman stood alongside the unsure and openly wondered if last year’s season-ending wrist surgery would limit him for the rest of his career.
But the once-rapidly aging All-Star has paused, and possibly even turned back time, once again providing the consistent presence in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup.
Playing in his 15th game of the season — matching last year’s total — Teixeira connected on his fourth home run in the past five games, going 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs in the Yankees’ 9-3 win over the Rays Saturday afternoon at the Stadium.
Though Teixeira wasn’t sure what to expect this season, manager Joe Girardi remained optimistic.
“I never doubted it,” Girardi said. “I’ve said all along I think he’s a guy that can hit 30 [home runs] and 100 [RBIs] for us.
“He’s just in a good place right now. He’s swinging the bat really well in the middle of the order and we need that.”
With the Yankees trailing 3-0 in the fourth inning, Teixeira took Jake Odorizzi’s first pitch into the second deck of right field for a two-run shot, the 346th home run of his career.
Following an early season stint on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, the 34-year-old’s five home runs this season have come in the past eight games, each one another piece of evidence his wrist surgery hasn’t sapped the strength of the former 40-homer switch hitter.
“It’s a very good sign,” Teixeira said. “I really didn’t know what to expect in the beginning of the season, end of spring training. I didn’t necessarily feel great, so to get some results now, it’s a good sign.
“The swing, the mechanics of the swing are getting better, but also getting stronger. I said right from the beginning when I went on the DL it could be a blessing in disguise, and I think it was. It allowed my wrist to take a little break and it felt stronger when I came back.”
Teixeira said he isn’t completely back to where he was before the injury, but he is taking several steps to ensure his wrist issues remain a memory, including taking less than half the swings he used to before batting practice.
It is the “new normal,” he says, the best possible route to rediscovering the old Teixeira.
“The first couple days of the season I was maybe protecting it a little bit, but when I came back from the DL it just started feeling better and I started having some good swings,” he said. “I got into such bad habits last year just protecting the wrist and my swing was awful. It really was.
“So you really just have to rebuild your swing to get back to being the hitter that I was before.”
That isn’t so hard to envision now.