A-Rod benched for winner-take-all Game 5

Alex Rodriguez will be on the bench at Yankee Stadium Friday afternoon when the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles play a winner-take-all ALDS Game 5 with a shot to get to the ALCS game on the line.

Rodriguez — one of the all-time great sluggers — will be replaced at third base by Eric Chavez. Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced the drastic, but logical, decision a few hours before the 5 p.m. start time.

Raul Ibanez — the hero of Game 3 — will be in the lineup as the designated hitter and Derek Jeter has recovered enough from the bone bruise in his left foot to start at shortstop.

This has to be a serious blow to the ego of A-Rod — who was pinch-hit for by Ibanez in the ninth inning of Game 3 and watched the journeyman player swat two home runs to almost single-handedly win the game for the Yankees.  Rodriguez took the demotion in stride and, after the game, even said he cheered for his replacement.  Tonight's benching might be tougher to swallow.

Rodriguez has struggled in the first four games of the series and is just 2-for-16 with nine strikeouts batting in the third and fifth spots of the lineup.  He joins a Yankee power outage that includes Curtis Granderson (1-for-16), Nick Swisher (2-for-15) and Robinson Cano (2-for-18).  All four players have come up small in big situations.

The Yankees' crushing 2-1 extra-inning loss Thursday, on J.J. Hardy's double in the 13th inning of Game 4, tied the series and has compelled Girardi to put his $29 million star on the pine.

Baltimore will put righthander Jason Hammel on the mound tonight.  Rodriguez's poor record against right handed pitchers gave Girardi all the ammunition the manager needed to bench A-Rod.  Over the past three postseasons, Rodriguez is batting an anemic .167 overall.

The Yankees will counter with their ace, CC Sabathia.  The big man is 6-1 with a 3.29 ERA in 11 playoff starts with New York.

"It's playoff baseball and the games are extremely tight.  Usually the difference in these games is one hit.  That basically has been the difference," said Girardi.  "It's been very good pitching.  They controlled the bats for the most part, and it's come down to one hit."

The Yankees dropped a decisive Game 5 to the Detroit Tigers last year and Girardi knows tonight's Game 5 is do or die and no place for sentimentality.