Teixeira not seeing more fastballs

Those who still suffer through ESPN’s Baseball Tonight saw a piece two nights ago on Mark Teixeira’s amazing May. On the month, he is hitting .327/.395/.752 with 12 HR and 29 RBI, and he’s been on a tear since A-Rod has returned. During the Baseball Tonight segment on Teixeira, Rick Sutcliffe claimed that the Yanks’ first baseman had been the recipient of more fastballs since A-Rod’s return. Since pitchers wouldn’t want to pitch around Teixeira to get to A-Rod, he concluded that the fastballs must be the reason for Teixeira’s hot month. Statistician Magician, a new baseball site, went to the pitch f/x data and determined that actually Teixeira has seen fewer fastballs since A-Rod came back. So much for both that theory and ESPN’s research department.