Padilla seemed to hit fewer batters after he went to the National League where he had to step to the plate, media likes to play race card-commenters

Media "reminded (Teixeira) of the serious nature of the allegation..." The media asked Robinson Cano and Freddy Garcia if they thought Mark Teixeria was racist. Honest! It's right in this article.

• 7/8/12, "Vicente Padilla: Mark Teixeira is racist toward Latinos; Tex: That's just comedy," Newsday, Greg Logan

Commenters to this article at Newsday (text posted below):

• grazlaw 5 hours ago

"When Padilla was released by Texas, it was reported that his Texas teammates were upset with him for his hitting batters. The news reports at that time suggested that the Texas players were getting hit in retaliation. When the Dodgers picked him up, there was a story that the Dodger manager, Joe Torre spoke to him about this problem. While with the Dodgers, the number of batters that he hit dwindled tremendously. Maybe it was because he was a starting pitcher at the time and had to bat or maybe his control improved."

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• Wizzy 6 hours ago

"The surname 'Teixeira' is Latin...thats pretty funny that Mark would hate his own heritage. Padilla is and always has been a sore loser, a hot-head, and a moron."

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• jc57 6 hours ago

"I'm not a Yankee or a Texiera fan, but.... The most annoying thing about this article is that the idiots in the media had to grill Teixiera about the accusation, and remind him of the "seriousness of the allegation". I'm sick of the race card being used when it's obvious that Texiera doesn't like him because he's an a h. He should pitch in the NL where he can bat, then we'll see how macho he really is."

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• denmac19 5 hours ago in reply to jc57

"Perfect. My thoughts exactly."

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7/8/12, Newsday, "The long-standing feud between Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira and Boston reliever Vicente Padilla boiled over Sunday when Padilla charged Teixeira with being racist toward Latinos when the two were teammates with Texas.

Padilla first made his comments to the Spanish-language version of NESN.com, the regional network that covers the Red Sox, and he repeated his charges to ESPN Desportes.

Padilla apparently was responding to critical comments Teixeira made about him after Friday night's game, in which Teixeira hit a go-ahead two-run triple off Padilla. Teixeira accused him of intentionally throwing at batters, which was a problem when they were Rangers teammates in 2006-07 because Teixeira often was the target of retaliation from opponents.

In his remarks to NESN.com, Padilla said Teixeira once threatened to hit him with a bat, a charge Teixeira flatly denied.

Padilla elaborated on those allegations Sunday, telling Marly Rivera of ESPN Desportes: "We used to be friends, but then there was this incident when I hit someone unintentionally and then he got hit. He said he would retaliate and hit me with a bat, and I guess it escalated from there."

Regarding his charge of racism, Padilla also told ESPN Desportes: "I believe he does have a bit of a problem with Hispanic players because it wasn't just against me when we were teammates."

Meeting with reporters before Sunday night's series finale at Fenway Park, Teixeira denied ever threatening Padilla with a bat and expressed amazement at the charge of racism. "That's just comedy," Teixeira said with a look of exasperation. "It's funny. I mean, it really is."

Reminded of the serious nature of the allegation, he said: "I ask you guys to interview every one of my Latin teammates in this clubhouse and ask them. That's why it's funny, because it's completely erroneous."

Teixeira said his differences with Padilla stemmed from the fact that he and former Rangers teammate Michael Young bore the brunt of retaliation because of Padilla's tactics. "I think the last straw in Texas was when Michael Young got hit and they showed [Padilla] laughing on the bench," Teixeira said. "[Padilla] got released that day. Michael Young is one of my best friends in baseball, so we obviously took exception every time that we get hit because of [Padilla's] actions. That's putting our season and our team in jeopardy."

Yankees teammates Robinson Cano and Freddy Garcia said they never have observed problems between Teixeira and his Latino teammates. "I judge guys by the way they are with me," said Cano, who greeted Teixeira with a playful chest bump on the way into the clubhouse. "I don't have any problem with him. He's one of the coolest guys on the team. Every day we're joking."

"Tex is a great guy," Garcia added. "Last year, I play with him and never had an issue. He's a really great guy, a good player, a family guy. I see he respects everybody."

Despite the two-run triple he allowed to Teixeira that erased a 7-6 Boston lead Friday night, Padilla told NESN.com and ESPN Desportes that he believes Teixeira is "scared to face me" because the reliever pitches inside. "

Told of that remark, Teixeira shrugged and said: "I guess women's boxing is pretty tough. I don't know if I could handle that."

As for whether the bad blood between the players might lead to a physical altercation, Teixeira vowed to avoid a brawl. "I'm not going to charge the mound because I don't want to get my teammates hurt," he said. "I've had too many teammates hurt in bench-clearing brawls. That would be selfish of me. So if [Padilla] wants to keep throwing at people, that's his prerogative.""

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