New Angel Teixeira braves another change

Slugger happy to join Angels in pennant chase

The Angels' Mark Teixeira gave the ball a good ride on his first swing in his new uniform, but it ended up just a long out. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

Mark Teixeira said he had a sneaking suspicion something was going to happen as the trading deadline neared.

"You know, I think when the injuries started piling up in Atlanta, and the losses started piling up, and we were in fourth place, and the team started looking toward the future, I thought there was probably going to be a trade before the deadline," Teixeira said.

Two days shy of the one-year anniversary of his trade from the Rangers to the Braves, Teixeira's suspicions proved correct when the switch-hitting first baseman was dealt to the Angels for first baseman Casey Kotchman and minor leaguer Stephen Marek.

"I think we were starting to feel some balance in our lineup before Mark even got here, but this gives us not only balance but a deeper lineup," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before his team beat the Red Sox, 9-2, last night at Fenway Park. "We're a better offensive team now than we were yesterday. I think the fact that Mark hits from both sides of the plate, can hit third in this order, and get on base for the middle of the lineup as a great swing guy, and it's hopefully going to pan out that way on the offensive side."

Teixeira characterized his third stop in six major league seasons as "bittersweet."

"I loved playing there," Teixeira said of his short stay in Atlanta. "I loved the team, I loved the city, I have family there, my wife's from there, and I went to Georgia Tech. So, it was very bittersweet, but I'm excited to be an Angel now."

Teixeira, who hit .283 with 20 home runs and 78 RBIs in 103 games with the Braves this season, went from the fourth-place team in the National League East to the first-place team in the American League West, from the prospect of a dreary second half with the Braves to the prospect of an exciting pennant race with the team with the best record in baseball.

"There's no doubt, when you're in last place, people only talk about the future because the present is basically over," Teixeira said before making his Angels' debut by going 0 for 4 with a walk against the Red Sox, the team that drafted him but was unable to sign him a decade ago out of Mount St. Joseph's High in Baltimore.

"This team is talking about the present," Teixeira said of the Angels. "It doesn't matter what the contract status is of anybody on the team, our No. 1 goal is to win ballgames."

As the Braves languished, and the injuries and losses piled up, and the rumors about him getting traded grew louder, Teixeira said he never wondered about where he'd wind up at the deadline.

"I didn't really think about it too much," he said. "You never know. When I got traded to Atlanta last year, they were the last team I thought about, so you never know who's going to be the team that trades for you. But when I heard it was Anaheim, I was very excited."

As well he should have been. The Angels, after all, are 67-40 and own an 11 1/2-game lead over the second-place Rangers, and have all the tools - hitting, pitching, fielding - to make a deep run in the postseason.

"I'm glad to be part of the Red and Black now," Teixeira said. "It was tough going into Angel Stadium and getting your butt kicked every night, because their team was so good the whole time I was in Texas and I'm so happy to be part of the team now."

Even better, though, was the fact Teixeira didn't have to face the Angels' pitchers.

"It's a dangerous staff," he said. "I'm not sure what the exact numbers are, but any hit you get against this pitching staff is a small victory. There's a lot of 0-fers when you're facing the best pitching staff in baseball, and the best bullpen. I mean, if you get into the eighth inning and you've got to face [Scot] Shields and K-Rod [Francisco Rodriguez], you're not going to win many of those games [as a hitter]."

Teixeira spent the last 24 hours "not getting a lot of sleep and packing a lot" in preparation for his debut against the Sox and Josh Beckett. When Teixeira arrived at Fenway carrying four bags, Howie Kendrick was the first to greet him in the clubhouse and ask if he needed any help with his luggage.

"I got in at 2 o'clock today, so I had plenty of time to get settled into the clubhouse and put my new number [25] on all my equipment and get ready for the game," Teixeira said. "I'd been hearing the Angels, but, like I said, it's always the last team you think about. A team that's in first place has so many pieces already, so it's not like they needed to go out and get anybody, but they did and I'm glad that they did."

Now he will be playing for his third team, in his third time zone.

"Yeah, I've been through a lot," Teixeira said. "Three different teams, and I've been through some tough seasons. I've been in a couple of pennant races; one in Texas and one in Atlanta last year that didn't work out, so I'm looking forward to hopefully getting over the hump this year."

Asked if he ever wondered what it would have been like had he signed with Sox when they drafted him in 1998, Teixeira said, "That was so long ago, 1998. Ten years in baseball time is a long time. I went through a lot; went to college for three years, the minors for a year, and six years in the majors, so the Red Sox drafting me was a long time ago.

"It worked out for both parties," he added. "The Red Sox won two world championships and I've been very blessed so far in my career. I've stayed healthy and I've put up numbers and hopefully the team winning is going to be part of my future."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.