"The only thing uglier for Yankees fans than watching Freddy Garcia get knocked around by the Red Sox last night was seeing Mark Teixeira rolling around home plate, clutching his right knee in pain.

Jon Lester hit Teixeira in the first inning with a 90 mph cut fastball. The pitch caught Teixeira on the side of his kneecap, and he dropped to the ground and looked like he may be seriously hurt as Yankees manager Joe Girardi and trainer Gene Monahan tended to him. Teixeira was carried off the field and X-rays showed only a bruise on the knee.

Teixeira said his immediate fear was that he had broken his kneecap.

"That's the first thing you think about," Teixeira said. "On the knee, you don't have any protection. There's no meat around there to protect that kneecap. Luckily it wasn't right on the kneecap, which would have been bad."

Teixeira said he hopes to play tonight, but Girardi said that is doubtful.

Losing Teixiera would be a brutal blow to the Yankees' lineup. The No. 3 hitter has 18 home runs this year, second in the majors to Jose Bautista. In his last 16 games, the Yankees slugger has hit nine homers and 19 RBIs.

Getting hit is nothing new for Teixeira. Over the last two seasons, he has been plunked 19 times, tied for the sixth-most in baseball over that time. Teixeira seemingly takes more abuse than any other non-catcher between getting hit by pitches and fouling pitches off his legs."