Yankees' bats have come alive

Mark Teixeira's face said it all.

He and the Yankees are happy to be home.

They were shut out on four hits twice in the final three games in Detroit, but the Yankees' offense has ignited in its return to Yankee Stadium, culminating in yesterday's 7-1 win over the Minnesota Twins.

"We ran into some really good pitching in Detroit. We give them credit," Teixeira said. "But at the same time, you still want to score runs, so when we came back here, the last couple of days we wanted to swing the bat well - and we have."

The Yankees had 12 hits (including two homers and two doubles) to go with the 14 hits (two homers, one triple, five doubles) they had in Friday night's 8-4 victory.

Teixeira, who went 2-for-4, broke open the game in the seventh inning with his seventh home run. His two-run blast landed in the suite level in rightfield, falling just short of becoming the first ball to reach the upper deck at the new Yankee Stadium.

Alex Rodriguez followed with a double off the top of the right-centerfield wall before Jorge Posada drilled his sixth homer over the centerfield wall. It was the Yankees' third multi-homer inning of the season.

The Yankees' 3-5 hitters - Teixeira, Rodriguez and Robinson Cano - were a combined 5-for-34 in the three losses to Detroit but have gone 11-for-22 in the two games against the Twins. (No. 6 hitter Posada, who did not play Friday night, went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored yesterday.)

Derek Jeter had two hits, matching his hit total in the previous six games (2-for-25). But the always practical captain said he isn't getting caught up in the Yankees' recent offensive showing.

"Let me tell you something, it won't be the last time we talk about an offense struggling," he said. "It happens. You play 162 games, sometimes guys are going to be swinging well, other times it's going to be hard to get hits. You can't really focus on what happened three or four days ago when we're playing a different team."

When asked about his personal struggles at the plate, Jeter said: "Everybody wants results, but all you can pretty much do is swing at a good pitch and hit it hard. If people catch it, they catch it, so you can't really direct where it goes. But, yeah, it always feels better when the results are there."

The Yankees jumped on lefthander Francisco Liriano right off the bat. Jeter, Teixeira and Rodriguez singled in the first inning, with Jeter scoring on A-Rod's line-drive hit to center and adding a two-out RBI single in the second inning. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 to lift his average to .288.

"Those guys were great today," Brett Gardner said of the middle of the order. "We got some big hits in some big spots today and Liriano has been throwing the ball well, so for us to get some runs off him and get an early lead was important."

Said Teixeira: "Alex and I make a pretty good combo when we're going well, so hopefully that keeps up."