Yankees Need Sluggers of Old, Not Old Sluggers First he set the tee for a high pitch, and swung at the ball left-handed for a while. Then he lowered the tee and swung some more. Switching to the other batter's box, Mark Teixeira raised the tee and took right-handed cuts. The thwack of the bat, coming from the Yankees" indoor cage before practice on Tuesday, was a much better sound than a cough. The severe bronchial congestion that has ravaged Teixeira all season makes an easy excuse for his .229 batting average and startling lack of power. Kevin Long, the hitting coach, said he did not know what impact it has had. "He won't say it," Long said. But certainly there are times that we can't work and we can't do the things we need to do because he's coughing and it's detrimental to his health. It's affected his workload, sure. The uncomfortable truth is that Teixeira's on-base plus slugging percentage has steadily declined every season since 2007. Alex Rodriguez's, too. And neither slugger is even halfway through his contract. Playing for Texas and Atlanta in 2007, Teixeira had an O.P.S. of .963. Playing for the Yankees that year, Rodriguez's O.P.S. was 1.067. Rodriguez quickly cashed in, convincing Hank Steinbrenner that it was reasonable to give a 32-year-old infielder a 10-year contract worth at least $275 million, with no other known bidders. Teixeira came along after the 2008 season, for eight years and $160 million. The contracts were extravagant but successful, because the Yankees won the World Series in 2009. But this is the aftermath, and too often this season, it has been painful. Rodriguez and Teixeira have just five homers apiece, although both singled in Tuesday's 3-2 victory over Kansas City. They combined for the final play on defense when Rodriguez flung a strong throw to a stretching Teixeira with the tying run on third. "These are our guys that have to get it done for us," Manager Joe Girardi said. These are our guys that we're committed to, that we believe in, that we've seen do it year after year after year. And we're committed to them, and they have to find a way to get it done. It's no different than a year that they put up 35 and 115. They had to find a way to get it done. Neither player will rest on his salary and track record. Rodriguez is one of the headiest players in the game, aware of the vaunted little things as well as the long ball. Needing a run on Monday, he tagged up from second to third on a fly ball to left, deftly pulling back his right hand on a headfirst slide to avoid the tag. After a squibbed single on Tuesday, with the Yankees down by a run, Rodriguez immediately stole second. They were impressive, finer-points plays indicative of Rodriguez's baseball I.Q. But while he can always stay that sharp, you have to wonder if he can still hit the way the Yankees need. When they signed Rodriguez, they did not know he had used steroids to inflate some of his gaudy career numbers. Aging is harder in the drug-testing era. "My legs feel good," Rodriguez said after the victory. My body feels good. I've been working hard with K-Long. I was out here early today; I'll be out here early tomorrow. I feel like I'm about to go off. Even a diminished version of Rodriguez and Teixeira can help the Yankees. Last season Teixeira hit 39 homers and drove in 111 runs, his eighth year in a row with at least 30 homers and 100 R.B.I. A notoriously slow starter who is only 32, Teixeira should still come close to those numbers. Rodriguez, 36, is not hitting for power, but he is still reaching base and showing much more plate discipline than Teixeira is. He is an all-time great, and Derek Jeter has shown how foolish it can be to pre-emptively eulogize such players. "I can't come to terms with guys declining and not being who they're supposed to be," Long said. I just won't do it. I was thinking about Derek Jeter, and guys basically destroying him, and I couldn't accept it then, and I'm not going to accept it with Alex Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira. They're better than this. They're going to get it done, and they're going to work their tails off until they get it done. The offense around Rodriguez and Teixeira remains very good. For all of their recent struggles, the Yankees started Tuesday's game ranked third in the league in O.P.S., third in batting average, third in homers and fifth in runs. They have done it mostly without Brett Gardner, and despite hitting .223 with runners in scoring position and .195 with the bases loaded. Long remembered a similar trend early in the 2009 season, which ended so well, and Girardi tried to emphasize perspective. "It's not the first time that a Yankee team has went through something like this," Girardi said."Every team goes through it. It seems like when you go through it, it's the only time. The Yankees had 23 victories in their first 43 games last season, and ended up leading the league in victories. They are one game off that pace now. The bullpen is beat up and the rotation is spotty, but the lineup can hit. Rodriguez and Teixeira may never be what they once were, but they cannot stay like this.