Mark Teixeira barely made the St. Jack's Demons' roster out of spring training, holding off a late charge from Paul Konerko to start the season with the big club. Now that he's in the NYLISL and manning first base for the Demons, it doesn't look like he'll be leaving any time soon.
Teixeira launched eight home runs in his first five games, setting an NYLISL record and spurring St. Jack's to a 5-1 record against the Wellwood Scribes of Lindenhurst on Monday. The switch-hitting slugger is batting .565 on the young season (13-23), with a ridiculous 1.609 slugging percentage.
The home runs didn't come easy, either - Wellwood's ballpark is 1-8 for home runs and several of Teixeira's shots were ballpark-dependent. Amazingly, a missed ballpark homerun actually kept Teixeira from adding another bomb to his total. Owner/GM/Manager Jack Flynn wasn't complaining, however.
"It was perhaps the most amazing offensive display this league has ever seen," Flynn said. "Although I'm sure (Floral Park Flesheaters GM Jason) Varvaro will claim that he once had someone homer in 14 straight games or something ridiculous like that, I think it's safe to say the NYLISL has never seen such an extended run of power."
St. Jack's played five games on the road Monday, winning four largely on the strength of Teixeira's amazing feats of strength. Ironically, the home run streak was snapped when the series moved to the Forest Hills Coliseum, where the Demons won a 4-3 nailbiter to improve to 5-1 on the young season. Teixeira remained hot, however, rapping two hits in a winning cause.
Posted by nylistratleague
at 10:39 PM EDT
