This no longer is about moving Alex Rodriguez down in the lineup. This is about moving him out.
Joe Girardi took the first dramatic step Wednesday night when Raul Ibanez appeared in the on-deck circle to hit for A-Rod as the second batter in the ninth inning with the Yankees trailing 2-1. You could hear the buzz intensifying as the Stadium crowd recognized the implications.
It was a tough-to-make move for Girardi, yet necessary against Baltimore closer Jim Johnson. This is how helpless Rodriguez has become against righty pitching. He is 0-for-9 with seven strikeouts against righties in this series, including a whiff against Johnson to close Game 2.
To let Rodriguez bat in this situation would have been managing negligence, doing something by rote rather than reacting to obvious events in front of you when the games are so precious. Girardi’s team was on the brink of finally falling behind Baltimore after figuring out how to stay ahead of the Orioles through a tough AL East battle to the wire.
So this couldn’t be about A-Rod’s psyche, status or salary any longer. Only what was good for the team, which was to send up Ibanez regardless of the outcome against Johnson.
Of course, Ibanez did what Rodriguez appears incapable of doing any longer – delivering a dramatic blow in the postseason. Ibanez hit yet another unforgettable pinch-hit homer, this one tied the score 2-2 with one out in the ninth. He then led off the 12th by hitting the first pitch for yet another homer, this one off lefty Brian Matusz. He was a Legend of the Fall. The Yankees won 3-2. They lead this best-of-five now two-games-to-one.
Ibanez has six homers since Sept. 22, five in games he did not start, all of the huge, huger, hugest level. A-Rod has one extra-base hit (a double) in his last 20 games, including the first three of this Division Series.
What Girardi does with Rodriguez on Thursday for Game 4 is about what his counterpart does. Orioles manager Buck Showalter was doing the brinksmanship two-step yesterday by refusing to say if he was starting Chris Tillman or Joe Saunders. If it is the righty Tillman, then Girardi must bench A-Rod. A-Rod continues to have good at-bats against lefties, so if Saunders starts, then so can Rodriguez. But Girardi must be prepared to use pinch-hitters late again for A-Rod against righties.
This is not to make Rodriguez the lone scapegoat for the Yankees. There are a lot of offensive problems. But there are moves to make to keep Rodriguez off the field in tough spots.
When Rodriguez is not right, hitting coach Kevin Long speaks of A-Rod being “disconnected,” which is to say he is not using his legs and upper body in synchronicity. It leaves him swinging with essentially just arms, sapping his bat speed and power. This is where he is now. If you have a fastball above 90 and throw righty, he seems incapable of doing much with it.
Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez faced Rodriguez three times yesterday. He threw 15 pitches, 12 were fastballs, none was above 92 mph, yet Rodriguez could do nothing, going hitless with two strikeouts. Ibanez hit the kind of 94 mph fastball for a homer off Johnson that A-Rod just cannot get to right now.
Can Rodriguez do something in the future to reconnect his swing and not make the final five years of his contract? Who knows?
But in the here and now is not the place to decide. In the 2006 Division Series, Joe Torre batted Rodriguez sixth in the first two games and famously eighth in Game 4. In no other time in his Yankee career has A-Rod started a game in which he did not bat someplace between second and fifth.
But the right move now is for Girardi to do something even more baseball nuclear. Aside from Robinson Cano (1.108), Eric Chavez had the best OPS (.908) vs. righties on the Yankees this year. Ibanez had 19 homers and an .812 OPS off righties, plus all of these big hits. Rodriguez had 10 homers and a .717 OPS vs. righties this year.
From Sept. 1 to the end of the regular season, A-Rod hit .195 off righties with 24 strikeouts in 77 at-bats. So this is not about the No. 3 spot in the lineup any longer.
This is about getting him out of the lineup, at least against righties.