" King of the hill

Mark Teixeira couldn't have given a higher compliment to Seattle's Felix Hernandez, who starts against the Yankees tonight. "To me, he's the perfect pitcher," Teixeira said. "You have a guy who throws hard, his ball moves, he can hit the corner with three different pitches, and his breaking stuff is so good that, you know, you just hope he makes a mistake."

King Felix hasn't slipped up much against Teixeira and company. In his last four starts against the Yankees, the right-hander is 4-0 with a 0.51 ERA. That's two earned runs in 35 innings, with three complete games dating to Sept. 18, 2009. "It seems like whenever we matched up against him last year, he was dominating," said manager Joe Girardi.

"When he's on, he's the best," Teixeira said of Hernandez, 25, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner. Teixeira recalled his first at-bat against King Felix - hitting a dribbler against the 19-year-old rookie while with Texas. "I went back to the dugout saying, 'Oh my goodness, this kid is special,' " Teixeira said"