"Mark Teixeira woke up yesterday morning after not sleeping much, and took a few steps to test out his bruised right knee.

Then he picked up his phone and texted Yankees manager Joe Girardi and assistant trainer Steve Donohue, "I'm ready to go. Count me in tonight."

With that, Teixeira was back in the lineup one night after taking a Jon Lester fastball to the side of his knee. The pitch dropped Teixeira to the ground and he rolled around in pain. But X-rays showed nothing was broken, and remarkably Teixeira did not have to miss last night's game.

"I didn't know what to expect," said Teixeira, who went 1-for-4 and drove in two runs in an the Yankees' 11-6 loss to the Red Sox last night at the Stadium. "Sometimes it's worse the next day. After what I felt [Tuesday], I'm really glad that I feel better today. It's remarkably better."

The knee was badly bruised but not swollen. Teixeira wore a compression sleeve on the knee to keep swelling down.

"It's not bad, all things considered," Teixeira said after the game. "It's a little sore but it didn't keep me from doing anything."

Teixeira, who felt well enough to film a scene for the show "Entourage" on the field in the afternoon along with teammate Alex Rodriguez, takes pride in playing through pain.

Last season, he played the final month of the year with a broken toe, and in 2005 and '06 he played all 162 games of those seasons. Growing up in Baltimore, Teixeira learned about playing hurt by watching Cal Ripken Jr. play 2,632 consecutive games."