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| Raul Ibanez and his bulging lip may have captured the memories, but Girardi's decision-making should not be forgotten. |
And so here were the Yankees, down 2-1 in the ninth at home of Game 3 of the ALDS against the division rival (and underdog) Orioles. They had wasted starter Hiroki Kuroda's dominant two-run, 8 2/3 innings performance, one that had only fallen victim to the breezy, home-run haven ballpark that is Yankee Stadium. The second best offense in the majors had been stifled at home by Miguel Gonzalez, who before last night, had never started a playoff game in his life. Ichiro had lined out to left and the Yanks only had two outs left in what would undoubtedly be seen as a swing game in the series. Next up was the right-handed ultra-slugger who was ultra-struggling through the first three games of the series.
Joe Girardi then made the sort of all-or-none decision that could conjure up nightmares that nag a lifetime. With A-Rod being a righty, an infamously bad clutch hitter (except in '09) and batting an atrocious 1-for-12 so far in this series, the skipper decided to go with the matchup. In steps the left-handed Raul Ibanez to face the righty Jim Johnson. A walk in this situation would have been nice, an extra base hit, awesome, but Raul Ibanez just simply wouldn't settle for nice or awesome, he wanted it all. The 40-year-old former all-star calmly deposited a missile in the right center bleachers. Cue the pandemonium. The minute the ball hit the bat, Ibanez and the crowd knew it was gone, but most importantly they knew the game was over. You don't beat the Yankees at home in extra innings of the postseason. Three innings later Ibanez exceeded even the most absurdly anticipated expectations by launching a walk-off bomb into the bleachers that left more stunned faces around the country than when J.T. introduced Janet Jackson's right breast to the world in the Super Bowl.
Say what you want about Joe Girardi, and I know for Yankees fans and sports fans in general those things aren't very nice, but the guys got some balls. It's easy to fall in love with A-Rod in the moment, even if he his clutch gene appeared solely in October of 2009 and disappeared almost immediately after. The guy has one of the most flawless swings in baseball and by the way he makes $27.5 million to bat south of the interstate line. There's a lot of reasons to leave A-Rod out there and it wouldn't even be Girardi's fault if he went out there and struck out. Managing the Yankees is like managing an NBA players money, everything's all there, but it's still difficult to get it right. I mean who would have thought a 40-year-old journeyman would be the savior? It's not like his .246 postseason batting average makes anyone go bonkers. But Girardi did the smart thing, he played the matchups. You want the lefty vs. righty matchup. He didn't care about the contract excuse he could have, he didn't care about A-Rod's ego. There was just a manager out there managing they taught you to do it in imaginary baseball managing school.
Let's not forget another factor, this is the Yankees we're talking about. This is a team with individual players that have more playoff experience than the whole Orioles team combined. There was an air of calm last night when Ibanez stepped to the plate. Maybe because we've seen Ibanez hit clutch homers before (Philadelphia's postseason in '09). Maybe because the guy was so calm that he was packing a monster lip in two at-bats that could immortalize his short Yankee tenure (if the Yankees win get to the World Series or win it). Maybe it's because the ghosts of Yankees past would refuse a Bombers loss last night.
Whatever it was, we all know last night's memory may forever belong to Raul Ibanez and his bulging lip, but Girardi's gutsy call should be hardpressed to be forgotten.
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