Mark Teixeira has been plagued by a bronchial infection for about a month now, and after considering it for a few days, Joe Girardi has finally decided to give him a night off. Teixeira, who had played in 37 of the team's first 38 games, is not in the lineup tonight against the Reds. In his place, Nick Swisher will play first base and Raul Ibanez, tonight's left fielder, will bat fifth.

Teixeira is batting just .228 with 5 HRs and 20 RBIs, but Girardi has been resistant to giving him time off to recover from his illness. This afternoon, however, the manager acknowledged that he is "concerned'' over the persistence of Tex's malady.

"This is something you expect would have went away by now,'' Girardi said. "They've tried some different ideas and it hasn’t worked, so, I would love to see it go away. because it can’t be a comfortable day for him every day in a sense.''

But Girardi would not commit to more than one day off for Teixeira. "This is a job where you can’t very often call in sick,'' Girardi said. "You have to be really sick not to play in our job. You know, we get four months off at the end. That's when you get well.''