Former Phillie Padilla rips Yanks' 1B Teixeira

Back in 2005, Mark Teixeira, then a Texas Ranger, homered in his first two at-bats against Vicente Padilla, then a Phillie, at Citizens Bank Park. In Teixeira's next at-bat, Padilla plunked him.

That's when the Padilla-Teixeira rivalry began, as detailed by CSN New England's Danny Picard. On Friday, the rivalry was revived when Teixeira hit the game-winning triple off of Padilla in the Yankees' 10-8 win over the Red Sox and ripped him in the clubhouse afterward.

"He doesn't have a lot of friends in the game," Teixeira said.

"I mean, the guy throws at people. The fact of the matter. I'm not saying anything that's news. It is what it is. I've always just been someone that wants to play the game the right way. You play hard, but you don't play cheap. And, I've always just kind of lived that way too. Some guys decide to take matters into their own hands.

"In the NFL, he'd probably be suspended by Roger Goodell eight games or a whole season. But this is baseball."

Padilla fired back at his former Rangers teammate (2006-07) Saturday night in an interview with NESN.com (via CSN New England).

"In this sport, as competitive ball players, we get pretty fired up," Padilla said. "So I think, maybe, [Teixeira] picked the wrong profession. I think he'd be better off playing a women's sport."

"The problem is he talks about all the wrong things that others have done, but the things he's done -- against the Latinos [on the Rangers] -- he doesn't open his mouth about," Padilla said. "He once threatened me and said he was going to hit me with a bat, and that's when we were playing on the same team.

"I just think he's scared to face me."

For what it's worth, Teixeira is 3 for 11 lifetime against Padilla, who has hit the first baseman with pitches three times. That means Friday's triple was his first hit off of the right-hander since that fateful day in 2005.