FanHouse MarkTeixeira

FORMER BASEBALL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD -- There is a Subway Series this weekend.

There is one again in two weeks.

There will not be one in October.

Friday night's game at Yankee Stadium, which both teams deserved to lose, showed us that.

It will be remembered forever, at least in the five boroughs and surrounding areas, as the Luis Castillo game. The Mets second baseman dropped Alex Rodriguez's popup with two outs in the ninth, allowing two runs to score and the Yankees to win 9-8.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

There I am. Bottom of the 10th inning. Promenade section of Citi Field.

With my hands swollen from furious applause throughout the night and my legs bobbing to stay warm, Fernando Martinez laced a hit to right field. We came alive once more, while the old man sitting next to me grumbled: "Another friggin single? Pelfrey's the only one who drove somethin'."

Sixteen hits and pitcher Mike Pelfrey was the Met with pop.

Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

You hear that, fantasy baseball owners? Josh Hamilton's sole purpose on this Earth is to mess with you. Really, there's no way to over-dramatize the crap he's put fantasy owners through. Initially, he would have been the crown jewel in a dynasty league with minor-leaguers. When those types finally gave up on him, he made the show for the Reds. Then, he started to catch on for the Reds, but couldn't stay healthy. So he goes to the Rangers and puts himself on a record RBI pace, only to significantly slow down in the second half. In 2009, the bona fide elite-level fantasy outfielder has only played 35 games. He's only hitting .240. And he's out until mid-July.

Here's how it works in baseball: Texas' Vicente Padilla throws at, and hits, the Yankees' Mark Teixeira twice and gets fined. A.J. Burnett tries to protect Teixeira with a pitch that doesn't hit Nelson Cruz and gets suspended.

All this happened Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, and the punishment was handed down Thursday by Major League Baseball.

"I pitch in all the time, but I can't complain about it," Burnett said before the Yanks hosted the Rangers at the new Yankee Stadium. "Obviously, a warning was issued and nothing else."

Still, he wasn't overly surprised by the decision.

"You kind of expect something to happen when ball comes that close," Burnett said. "It looked bad. Obviously, it was up tight."

Padilla hit Teixeira on the right biceps in Tuesday's second inning and on the rear end in the fourth, prompting Teixeira to stare down Padilla and then blast him as a headhunter after the game.

NEW YORK – If Mark Teixeira misses anything from his 4 1/2 seasons with the Rangers, it isn't Vicente Padilla.

Teixiera, now with the Yankees, glared at Padilla on Tuesday after the right-hander plunked him for the second time in the game, in the fourth inning of the Yankees' 12-3 rout. Later that inning Teixeira went in hard at second base to break up a double play and keep a seven-run rally going.

Then afterward, Teixeira made it clear what he thought of his ex-teammate.

"It's just not the right way to play the game," Teixeira said. "Unfortunately, that guy's been doing it his whole career."

NEW YORK -- Over the past few years, I have been to a lot of Yankees games. They keep it interesting, but there are a few things you come to count on. The YMCA. "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch. And horrendous defense by the home team. This last has become as much a constant as the first two. The Yankees, for the past several years, have been a terrible defensive team.

So imagine my own personal surprise Monday night when I learned that the Yankees, those same bumbling pinstripers who've spent the early part of the 21st century scraping the bottom of the statistical defensive rankings, had set a major-league record by going 18 games in a row without an error.

The Yankees? Setting a record for defense? That's like LeBron James setting some kind of handshake record. Or Lindsay Lohan setting a record for consecutive days sober. There are certain things the Yankees do well. Defense is not one of them. Something must be amiss. I went to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night to investigate.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Reds can see the top of the NL Central. And they can smell it.

Cincinnati trails St. Louis by 1 1/2 games and Milwaukee by a 1/2 game, and on Friday the Reds begin a trip to .... Milwaukee (three games) and St. Louis (four).

"We go on the road with some momentum," [Jay Bruce] said. "We plan on coming back in first place."

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MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

Well, that took freaking forever ... but the Blue Jays finally started to stink the joint up. I swear to you, you can't stay long atop the MLB Power Rankings -- our failure by osmosis jinxing ability is just too strong, son. At any rate, it was a weird week for ranking baseball: the Cubs continued to skid, the Padres went on a tear and Toronto fell off the face of the planet. So, yeah, spiciness ensued, and you may take the jump to see how badly your team fared. Unless you're a Rangers or a Braves fan, in which case they couldn't have done that poorly.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

With the recent news that Mark DeRosa is on the trade block and the White Sox have possibly landed Jake Peavy, junkies of major league baseball trade rumors got an early glimpse at what promises to be a very interesting July. It's far to0 early to know exactly who will be in the market for what -- or who can afford to take on temporary payroll in this economy -- but it's certainly fun to speculate. Let's do it.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

There's an awful, awful fantasy baseball stigma that's attached to players who struggle in April and May. See: Papi, Big. Although his is much worse because he's a bulky DH declining swiftly; additionally, he's not a pitcher with the potential to be labeled "inconsistent" or "a slow starter."

Like, say, you know, CC Sabathia. Or Cole Hamels. Or Dontrelle Willis. Okay, scratch that last one -- he's just kind of insane kooky. But the point is this: Tuesday night was a suddenly wonderful bit of relief, because we got to see some big pitching names come through with nice outings.