WHAT IT MEANS: Maybe Russell Martin found his swing over the All-Star break?

The Yankees catcher -- whose been struggling at the plate for much of the season -- lined a go-ahead RBI single to right in the eighth inning to help the Bombers to a 6-5 win over the Angels.

Martin's single gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead that Rafael Soriano preserved with a scoreless ninth.

Martin's single capped a four-run eighth for the Yankees. The catcher entered play Friday hitting just .179 with 21 RBIs.

To make the game even sweeter, Martin corralled Soriano's bounced pitch with two outs in the ninth and threw out Howie Kendrick at second to seal the win for the Yanks.

TEX TERRIFIC: Mark Teixeira must've enjoyed his All-Star break as well.

The Yankees first baseman started the second half of the season in spectacular fashion, hitting two home runs in the win.

Teixeira hit a three-run homer in the eighth to tie the game at 5-5. He also had a two-run shot in the third.

Teixeira finished the first half at .250 with 15 homers and 54 RBIs, rebounding from a slow start due in part to illness. He said at the end of the first half that he would enjoy the break and, if Friday night is any indication, he's come back pretty fresh.

RISP STRUGGLES CONTINUE: The Yanks' eighth-inning rally masked another tough night with runners in scoring position for the club.

The Yanks went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and the sixth and seventh innings were glaring examples of their struggles in such situations.

In the sixth, Curtis Granderson led off with a triple but was stranded on third when Teixeira grounded to third, Alex Rodriguez grounded to short and Robinson Cano lined to third.

In the seventh, Nick Swisher led off with a double and advanced to third on Andruw Jones' flyout but got no further. Martin followed with a grounder to third and Jayson Nix struck out to end the inning.

The Yanks entered play Friday hitting .231 with runners in scoring position, last in the American League.

SHAKY HIROKI: Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda was banged around to the tune of five runs on eight hits in 7 1/3 innings. Kuroda gave up mammoth home runs to Erick Aybar in the third and Mark Trumbo in the seventh.

A-ROD BOOED: Rodriguez didn't get a warm reception from the Yankee crowd Friday. He finished 0-for-4 and was booed vociferously after grounding out with Granderson on third in the sixth. ... Derek Jeter scored his 1,817th run on Friday, surpassing Carl Yastrzemski for sole possession of 16th place on MLB's all-time list. ... Cano (1-for-4) has hit in 16 straight games.