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AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES v TWINS

October 6, 2010

Mark Teixeira

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Game One

New York Yankees 6
Minnesota Twins 4

THE MODERATOR: Okay, Mark Teixeira is here. We'll take questions for him.

Q. As well as CC has pitched for you all year, how did it feel to kind of pick him up in that situation?
MARK TEIXEIRA: It was great because CC has been picking us up a lot and just pitching his butt off. And for us to be able to score a few more runs for him today, and get him that win, he deserved that win. He had a couple of bad bounces for him. The ball that I had to dive at first base and then get to third, and then a ball gets away from Posada a little bit of bad luck, but he kept battling.

Q. I wasn't going to ask this question, but you reminded me: Joe said the thumb hurts you the most when you dive. You are not supposed to be diving out there. Did you hurt yourself on that one?
MARK TEIXEIRA: No. It actually felt pretty good on that one. But that's a play I have to get that out. It was a great play on Hudson's part. A heads-up play. As soon as I dove and got the out, I got up there and he was halfway to third base. Just a great play.

Q. How many pain are you playing in right now? We talked a little bit before the game about getting cortisone shot and the whole bit. How much is that hand hurting you now?
MARK TEIXEIRA: It is actually the worst when I swing and miss. So my goal is not to swing and miss.

Q. No diving.
MARK TEIXEIRA: I am able to take extra batting practice and for a couple of weeks I couldn't do that. The cortisone shot definitely helped. Hopefully we won't need another one. It is always in our back pockets. Hopefully we will play the next four weeks. If I need another one, I can get another one.

Q. You guys have led the league in comebacks during the regular season. Why do you think this team is so good at rallying from being down?
MARK TEIXEIRA: Our lineup is so deep, there is never a reason to give up. There are some teams where maybe two or three guys carry the team and if you're in a big hole, it's just tough to get out of. But with our lineup we can be down four, five, six runs and we have a chance to score seven or eight. And we haven't given up all year.

Q. Just the breaking ball at that Crain left up for you, talk about it. Did your eyes light up? And how much did you get of it?
MARK TEIXEIRA: I wanted to get a pitch up in the zone. Swish did a great job of getting on base. There was one out, the last thing I wanted to do is hit into a double play with Alex behind me. So looking for a pitch up. Battled, got to 3-2 and he did leave a pitch up and I put a pretty good swing on it.

Q. You obviously hit a lot of home runs during your career. I am wondering what is the difference in feeling to hit one in a situation like that in the playoffs on the road? You know hearing the crowd go silent.
MARK TEIXEIRA: You know what, game-winning home runs, there's nothing better. And the biggest thing is it's game-winning. Home runs when you're losing or home runs that don't end up being the difference, they're very empty. It is an empty feeling any time you lose. But when have you a chance to put your team up, especially on the road against a very good Minnesota Twins team, it was a great feeling.

Q. Mark, how much do you think you personally can build off your night? Do you think this you can carry this into tomorrow night?
MARK TEIXEIRA: I hope so. That's the goal. The playoffs is not about quantity, it is quality. You just want to get big hits. And everyone talks about hits with runners in scoring position, home runs are big in the playoffs. And hopefully I can continue to do that.

Q. What was the difference between Liriano for the first five innings and then the sixth inning?
MARK TEIXEIRA: He was filthy the first five. He didn't miss many pitches. He was throwing everything all over the place. And that fifth inning or sixth inning whatever it was, just left the ball up a couple of times. The ball I hit for a double is a change-up up in the zone and he hadn't done that in my first two at-bats. We took advantage of a few mistakes.

Q. Mark, did you think that the game was over, maybe one hit earlier? I don't know if you saw Golson, what your view on that play was.
MARK TEIXEIRA: I thought it was a catch right away. And that's why we were all pretty adamant about it. You have the whole team running to make sure they try to get it right. But it just didn't go our way.

Q. Mark, in Baltimore a few weeks ago, right around when you got the cortisone shot, you said you had been playing in the most pain you had ever played in in your career. Have you numbed it out? Or has that gotten significantly better since then?
MARK TEIXEIRA: It has gotten better, but at the same time you learn how to deal with it. You know, you break your toe and bruise your hand in the same week, you're like you don't have feet or hands to work with. It was a tough couple of weeks. But the toe has gotten better, the hand has gotten better with the shot. Right now there's no time for worrying about taking days off and getting better. You know it is what it is and I feel good enough to play. Obviously I played well tonight and try to keep doing that.
THE MODERATOR: We'll let you go. Thank you, Mark.

End of FastScripts

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