Ibanez the hero for Yankees

NEW YORK—Down by a run in an all-even AL division series, Joe Girardi approached Alex Rodriguez and told baseball’s highest-paid player he was going to pinch-hit for him.
Bold move, benching one of the game’s great sluggers.

“I just had a gut feeling,” the Yankees’ manager noted. “I just went to him and I said, ‘You’re scuffling a little bit right now, we have got a low-ball hitter, and we’ve got a shorter porch in right field then left field obviously—Raul [Ibanez] has been a good pinch-hitter for us, and I’m just going to take a shot.’”
The audacious decision worked.
Ibanez homered in the ninth, then again in the 12th, rallying New York to a stunning 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles last night for a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series.
The slumping Rodriguez offered no complaint, telling Girardi, “Joe, you gotta do exactly what you gotta do.”
Injured saves leader Mariano Rivera went to Rodriguez in the dugout after seeing Ibanez head for the on-deck circle.
“I told Alex not to worry, that Raul was going to hit a home run,” Rivera said.
And Rivera was right next to A-Rod when Ibanez lined Jim Johnson’s 1-0 pitch into the right-field stands. Rodriguez threw his arms into the air and then exchanged high-fives with Rivera.
When Ibanez returned to the bench, Rodriguez was the first player to greet him.
“There was no one happier than me—one of the best performances I have ever seen,” Rodriguez said.
Yankees’ fans had been howling this week for Girardi to drop Rodriguez out of the No. 3 spot in the batting order. But Girardi was reluctant to move his fading slugger down in the lineup.
Until he took him all the way out.
“You have to make some decisions sometimes that are tough decisions. I just had a gut feeling,” Girardi remarked.
Rodriguez has 647 career home runs—he’s chasing the record of 762 by Barry Bonds—and is making $29 million this year.
But he was just 1-for-12 with no RBIs and seven strikeouts in this series when Girardi pulled him.
It was the first time Rodriguez had ever been pinch-hit for in a post-season game, according to STATS LLC.
Ibanez remained in the game and connected on the first pitch from Brian Matusz in the 12th.
He became the first player to homer twice in a post-season game in which he didn’t start, STATS said.
Phil Hughes will try to clinch it for the Yankees tonight in Game 4. Joe Saunders will start for Baltimore.