Teixeira’s hustle helps construct 3-run inning

The Yankees scored three runs in the first inning due primarily to a player running hard to first base. If there is one gripe I hear from fans more often than any other is that the modern player does not always hustle. Well, you cannot say that about Mark Teixeira.

No one would consider Tex as speed demon, but his running to first base full throttle not only prevented an inning-ending double play and drove in a run but also gave Raul Ibanez the chance to produce two more runs.

With runners on first and third and one out, Teixeira hit a bouncing ball into the over-shift employed by the Red Sox. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia threw to shortstop Mike Aviles covering second for the second out of the inning, but Aviles’ throw to first was a hair late to get Teixeira, who busted it out of the box and never let up.

Major league players should do that all the time, but not all do. Curtis Granderson, who had doubled with one out, scored from third base on the play. Tex’s hustle all kept the inning alive for Ibanez, who crushed a 2-2 sinker from Boston’s Aaron Cook for a two-run home run that gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

It just shows you what hustle can accomplish. As former Yankees coach Frank Howard used to say to players, “All that is required of you is to run hard to first base four times a game. Is that too much to ask?”