With apologies to Allen Iverson, the Yankees have their own version of “The Answer.” His name is Raul Ibanez.
Why didn’t the Yankees try to bring back Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui last winter, after trading Jesus Montero? Ibanez is The Answer.
Why can’t the Yankees come from behind in the late innings? Oh, they can. As long as they have The Answer.
What in the heck are the Yankees going to do about the walking money pit that is Alex Rodriguez? That’s a doozy. For now, let The Answer deal with it.
Ibanez pulled off an explosive daily double of hitting heroics last night at Yankee Stadium. As the first pinch hitter for A-Rod in Major League Baseball history (according to A-Rod), the 40-year-old slammed a one-out, ninth-inning, game-tying homer off Baltimore closer Jim Johnson. Then his 12th-inning blast off lefty Brian Matusz gave the Yankees a walk-off, 3-2 victory in American League Division Series Game 3, providing the Yankees a 2-1 lead in games.
“One of the best performances I’ve ever seen,” A-Rod said afterward. “It couldn’t have happened to a better guy.”
“Being in that situation, and being a part of something like this, this great team, and obviously all the legends that have come before you here is an extraordinary feeling, and it’s a great blessing,” Ibanez said. “And then to be a part of something like that is definitely a special moment.”
He’s no stranger to special moments. The Yankees should shudder at where they’d be right now if not for Ibanez and his special moments. Good Lord.
On Sept. 22 at the Stadium, the Yankees allowed four runs to Oakland in the top of the 13th inning. They responded with four runs, the last two of which came on a two-run blast by Ibanez to right field off A’s reliever Pat Neshek, and they prevailed in the 14th, 10-9.
On Oct. 2 at the Stadium, the Yankees were trailing the Red Sox, 3-1 in the ninth inning, with the knowledge that a loss would drop them back into a tie with Baltimore atop the AL East. Curtis Granderson led off with a single off Boston closer Andrew Bailey, and Ibanez, pinch-hitting for Eduardo Nunez, launched a two-run homer to right. Then he singled home the game-winning run in the 12th for arguably the team’s biggest victory of the regular season.
Those moments served as mere appetizers for last night. Joe Girardi ignored the calls to drop A-Rod down the lineup, hitting him third once more, only to see Rodriguez struggle once again, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Considering how bad Johnson made A-Rod look in Monday night’s Game 2, striking him out to end the game, using Ibanez as a pinch hitter — with the Yankees trailing, 2-1 — shouldn’t have been a particularly hard call.
Ibanez looked at a curveball for ball one, and then he cranked a two-seam fastball into his usual spot, that inviting right-field porch. Tie game. The new Stadium attained as great a sense of delirium as this place can get.
After two quiet innings, Ibanez led off the 12th and drilled the first pitch he saw from Matusz well into the seats. Ballgame over.
“Unbelievable,” Derek Jeter said. “I don’t know how he does it.”
Asked if he could recall a similar run by a player in his Yankees years, Girardi mentioned Shane Spencer in 1998. “But I don’t recall the games being these type of games where we were down two, we were down one, [he] tied it up and then put us ahead,” the manager said. “I mean, it’s remarkable.”
This winter, the Yankees will have to decide what to do about Ibanez, who wants to keep playing. They’ll have to put his late-inning greatness into proper perspective, just as they did when they correctly bid farewell to Damon and Matsui following the 2009 World Series title.
But Damon and Matsui will be forever beloved by Yankees fans, and Ibanez is working himself to a special place, too. All he has to do is put up, say, three or four more game-tying and/or game-winning homers in the ninth or later, and he and the Yankees will be good to go.
Many questions, most surrounding their veteran hitters’ problems at the plate, remain around these Yankees. That’s why they have to feel so good about a guy who provides so many answers.