NFL Tickets
Bucky *bleeping* Dent. Aaron *bleeping* Boone. Raul *bleeping* Ibanez?
No.
Look, even as a bitter New York Mets fan I have always like Raul Ibanez. He did wonders for my fantasy team for years. So it was still amazing to me that the New York Yankees were able to scoop him up for next to nothing. (By next to nothing I mean in baseball terms, not real life terms. They nabbed him for $1 million)
What Ibanez did in tonight’s game was nothing short of amazing; It’s literally what every kid dreams of. It’s the playoffs, you’re at the plate, it’s the bottom of the ninth, and BOOM, you hit the home run that ties the game. But wait, it’s not over. Now it’s the bottom of the twelfth, and here it comes. The pitch that you send screaming out of the ball park to win the game.
But now who gets all the credit?
Twitter instantly became a buzz about how Joe Girardi had the ummm… man parts… to pinch hit for Alex Rodriguez. Last time I checked Alex was the worst hitter for the Yankees going into this game. So how does taking out the worst bat from your lineup all of a sudden make you the best manager ever?
Before tonight’s game even started the baseball world couldn’t talk enough about how A-Rod shouldn’t be hitting in the #3 spot. Going into this game, A-Rod was hitting .111. Then, in tonight’s game he proceeded to go 0-for3. So if the entire sports world saw that Alex wasn’t hitting, and mutually agreed that he should not be the third batter in the lineup, why was anyone shocked that Girardi pinch hit for him? And even if you weren’t shocked, why the heck are you sending so much praise his way?
I’m not a Yankee hater by any means. But does it really take a genius to decide to pinch hit for your worst hitter during the playoffs?
And I’m sorry Raul, while you most definitely single-handedly beat the Baltimore Orioles tonight, once game four is over, no one will remember tonight. If the Yankees lose, and the series becomes tied, then your efforts meant nothing, and if the Yankees wind up winning the series, they will remember who was the star that night.
No one remembers the hero from the night before.
And please spare me the “this has never happened in history” before argument. While a player coming of the bench and hitting two home runs is technically historic, let’s revisit this in ten, even five, years and see who remembers this game. Do you remember that historic game in that National League Divisional Series on October 9, 2005 between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves when the Astros won 7-6? Exactly.
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