It was the first Wednesday of the month, and the April showers that typically give way to May flowers where still lingering the in tri-state area. Through nearly eight innings of baseball, the Rays handled the Yankees with relative ease. Andy Sonnanstine had pitched seven innings of four-hit baseball for Tampa Bay, striking out four batters and walking none. A.J. Burnett, starting for New York, recorded eight K?s in just six innings of work, but was forced to throw 114 pitches and served up three earned runs. Then the rain began to fall at the new Yankee Stadium -? I sometimes wonder how long we?ll have to call it the ?new? Stadium ?- and with the precipitation New York?s bats finally woke up. Melky Cabrera grounded out to start the inning, but Ramiro Pena singled to right in front of catcher Jose Molina. Molina, prior to his own injury, was filling in for the injured Jorge Posada, who had been placed on the disabled list with a hamstring strain early last week. As the rain intensified, Molina, or as Yankee faithful call him the ?Panda,? answered the bell with a double that moved Pena to third with ?Captain Clutch? Derek Jeter coming to the plate. Much to the chagrin of the crowd in the Bronx, Dan Wheeler came on for the Rays and struck Jeter out looking for the second out of the inning. What seemed like a promising inning for the Yankees no longer held the same hope. The fact that Jeter, the team?s can-do-no-wrong shortstop, couldn?t drive New York?s first run of the game only further depressed the wet patrons awaiting a dramatic base knock. Johnny Damon followed up Jeter by working a walk, exactly what the captain had been looking to do when he was fooled by Wheeler?s strikeout pitch, which loaded the bases for Mark Teixeira. The first baseman entered the game with a .198 average, and a $180 million contract. Known for his slow starts, Teixeira has received a pass from the notoriously impatient fans in New York. Of course, the saga surrounding Alex Rodriguez and the mighty struggles of Chien Ming-Wang have helped mask the Mendoza Line status of the slugger. With the bases loaded, two outs and the rain pouring with tremendous intensity, Teixeira took the fourth pitch and doubled to deep left. The bases-clearing hit tied the game at 3-3, and appeared to shift the momentum in favor of the home team. ?Black Betty? blared over the Stadium?s speakers and the crowd reveled in Teixeira?s game-changing double. The hit wasn?t the first baseman?s official introduction to the pinstripes, but it was as close as he?s been thus far. Umpires then decided to delay the game with the rain having come on even quicker than New York?s rally. Brian Shouse, who had relieved Wheeler to pitch to Damon and Teixeira, was given time to regroup. Shouse struck out Hideki Matsui as the game resumed roughly 30 minutes later, when the skies had cleared and the Yankees? rally went the way of the rain. In the bottom of the tenth, with Carlos Pena having given Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead on a home run to right in the top of the inning, Teixeira came to the plate again. This time there was one out, with Damon, the game-tying run, on third base after a wild pitch. Teixeira, who was already responsible for all of New York?s three runs, was in position to either win the game, or at the very least, tie it on a long fly ball. On a 2-0 count, perhaps pressing to truly enter himself in Yankee lore, he belted a fly ball to right field. Despite Damon?s speed, it wasn?t enough to even things up. Matsui would fly out to end the game in the next at-bat, and Teixeira?s true coming out party would be put on hold yet again. Even if Teixeira couldn?t deliver a walk-off hit, or help extend the game into the eleventh inning, perhaps his clutch double in the eighth would shake him out of his customary spring slump. After that May 6 loss to the Rays, he was hitting .209 with an on-base percentage of .354. If not for his tremendous patience, and great eye at the plate, Teixeira?s struggles would have further hampered the Yankees. Only five Yankee regulars have a better on-base percentage heading into Tuesday night?s game against the Blue Jays, a testament to his plate discipline. Those five teammates are batting a combined .290, nearly 100 points better. Believe it or not, Teixeira?s clutch hit last Wednesday may have actually set him back rather than jumpstarted his swing. He is just 2-for-16 (.063) since his bases-clearing double in the eighth inning of that game. His on-base percentage is .222 thanks to a pair of walks, but he has also struck out five times in those eighteen plate appearances. For him, that?s a horrible strikeout-to-walk ratio, especially considering he had a 19-to-17 walk-to-strikeout ratio heading into that May 6 game. A lot has been made of Teixeira?s typical spring struggles, I even referenced it myself, but, in actually, it?s been blown a bit out of proportion. Let?s take a look at what Teixeira?s numbers have looked like at this point in each of his major league seasons. His Season Numbers On May 12 Season: AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS 2003: .238/.323/.381/.704 2004: .185/.338/.400/.738 2005: .262/.323/.476/.799 2006: .264/.355/.431/.786 2007: .289/.373/.489/.862 2008: .261/.354/.435/.789 2009: .198/.338/.434/.772 As you can see, his typical ?spring slump? involves an average in the mid-.200s, not the Mendoza Line. You can also see that his patience at the plate has kept his on-base percentage in familiar territory. Once he starts hitting, it?s conceivable that he could be reaching base well past forty percent of the time. That?s one of the main reasons the Yankees signed him. He is tried of the excuses himself, including that lack of protection behind him in the lineup with Alex Rodriguez having made his season debut more than a month after the season began in early April. "I'm not where I want to be, obviously, but I can't change what happened in the first 100 at-bats of the season," Teixeira told MLB.com. "What I can do is try to work very hard and swing at good pitches, and try to drive in runs." The Yankees will begin a ten-game homestand on Friday against the Twins, where he will have a few dozen chances to both break out of his slide and earn his pinstripes. If not then, how about late May against his former team in Texas? No matter when he starts hitting like Mark Teixeira, Yankee fans will be ready. So will the rain and Ram Jam?s Black Betty. Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM?s Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: [email protected]