Teixeira rested again as he tries to shake cough

Mark Teixeira was held out of the New York Yankees’ lineup again

Saturday, given another day off to try and shake the nasty cough

that’s been bothering him all season.

The All-Star first baseman has been plagued by a lingering cough

since early April and has tried just about everything to get rid of

it. He saw a chest specialist, who assured him it’s nothing to be

worried about, and was given medicine that didn’t seem to work.

”I’ve seen every doctor that’s out there,” Teixeira said

Saturday morning, sounding hoarse and a little bit tired. ”We’ve

tried everything. That’s why rest is like the last effort here.

I’ve taken more medicine than I’d like to, so I think we’re done

with that option. Rest is kind of the final straw here for

us.”

Hoping consecutive days off will help, the Yankees sat Teixeira

on Friday night against Cincinnati and left him out of the lineup

again Saturday. New York manager Joe Girardi said he might give the

switch-hitter another day off Sunday, too.

”It physically has to wear on him and mentally has to wear on

him, and I’m just trying something different to get rid of it,”

Girardi said. ”It’s difficult. He wants to be out there. Tex is a

ballplayer who wants to play every day. But I just said, you know

what Tex, watching what you’re going through, I just don’t think a

day is enough. So let’s try something else and if we can’t get rid

of it with two or three days off, well we know that the rest isn’t

necessarily going to help and we’re going to have to find some

other way.”

Teixeira is typically a slow starter, and this season has been

no different. He was hitting .228 with five homers and 20 RBIs in

37 games.

Nick Swisher, who normally plays right field, replaced Teixeira

at first base for the second straight game Saturday. Raul Ibanez

was in right field and Dewayne Wise in left.

Teixeira planned to limit his activity Saturday to a little bit

of stretching and he was set to watch the game from the dugout

again. But he doesn’t like to sit out.

”It’s not easy, but you know you have to sometimes take care of

yourself and try to get better because it’s a long season and I

want to make sure I’m good for the long run,” he said.

If this extended rest doesn’t do the trick, the slugger said

he’ll simply adapt.

”I’ve been fighting through it for over a month, so I’ll be

able to do it again,” Teixeira said.

When he was examined by the chest specialist earlier this month,

Teixeira was told he had severely inflamed airways and was given

medicine that he hoped would alleviate the problem within a week or

so.

It didn’t work. Teixeira is still having a hard time breathing

when he runs around, and the choking cough has sapped his energy

and strength.

”That’s why we’re trying rest, because nothing else really

worked,” he said. ”I think they kind of know what it is, but just

don’t know exactly how long it’s going to take to get out of there

and start feeling better.”

He said Saturday he didn’t feel any worse, ”which is good. So

hopefully a couple days will make me feel better.”

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