Managing the Yankees

Mr. Fantastic is a fictional comic character from Marvel's The Fantastic Four. As the leader of the group, Mr. Fantastic has the ability to stretch, expand, and elongate. He can stretch his limbs to incredible lengths.

In New York there is a realistic human being that has the capability to do what Mr. Fantastic does. His name is Mark Teixeira. The Yankees 1st baseman has been stretching his arms, limbs and legs just to get the opposing runners out in 1st base. That happened in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Angels. Tori Hunter bunted the ball of CC Sabathia's pitch just to have the opportunity to get to 1st base. CC managed to retrieve the ball and threw it to 1st base. The throw was a little wide but Mark Teixeira stretch his arms, legs and even toes to catch the ball and getting Tori Hunter out at 1st.

In Game 2, Teixeira used his super powers again by stretching and catching the balls thrown by Jeter, A-Rod, and Molina. Mind you, all of the the players I mentioned threw the ball to 1st off-line but somehow the former gold glover Teixeira managed to scoop the ball to save an error.

The Yankees infield defense dramatically improve since the arrival of Teixeira. Infield regulars like Rodriguez, Jeter, Cano and Posada has the confidence to throw the ball to 1st even if they knew that sometimes it's a wild throw. They know somehow Teixeira will use his stretching skills to catch it. Last season was different. The Yankees 1st baseman was Jason Giambi back then. There defense was not that exceptional because of Giambi's defensive liability.

Teixeira presence help the Yankees infielders to adjust their defensive positions because they know that Teixeira's range is wide. Teixeira sometimes stay a few meters away from 1st base, something Jason Giambi can't do, and given that he can take away the area what 2nd baseman Robinson Cano is guarding. Teixeira can guard the area at 1st and a some chunk of area at 2nd. Cano then can protect the middle infield. Jeter can help A-Rod at 3rd. It's a chain reaction and helps Girardi's team defense.

The good thing about Teixeira is his fantastic defensive plays at 1st rubs also his team mates. That is one of the reason why the Yankees are winning this season. Mr. Stretchy and his super gold glove.