Mark Teixeira has resisted taking a day off this season despite a hacking cough that has left him gasping for breath often. The first baseman suffered a coughing fit on the field during the bottom of the sixth inning on Thursday night. "If you could guarantee me that it would make me feel better, I'd love that guarantee," Teixeira said of getting a day off. "I just don't know if it's going to help, so we'll see. I'll probably talk to Joe [Girardi] a little bit and we'll see if maybe it makes sense. I want to be out there for my team." Teixeira has been sick since the first week of the season, yet he's started 37 of the first 38 games, missing only one game on April 17. He was diagnosed more than a week ago with inflammation in his airway and given a prescription for prednisone. "I've always been someone that, unless I'm going to injure myself more, I'm going to be out there," Teixeira said. "You battle through it. I've said it 100 times; you're always fighting through something during a baseball season. It's just something that you have to play through."