Cool stuff about Raul’s hot night

Here is some more cool stuff about Raul Ibanez, the slugging hero of the Yankees’ 3-2, 12-inning victory over the Orioles Wednesday night in Game 3 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium:

• Ibanez became the first player in major league history to hit two home runs in a postseason game with both coming in the ninth inning or later (includes, pinch-hit, game-tying, game-winning, etc.)
• His ninth-inning, game-tying pinch-hit homer was the first pinch homer of his postseason career. It was the 12th all-time pinch-hit postseason HR by a Yankees player and the first since Hideki Matsui Oct. 31, 2009 in Game 3 of the World Series at Philadelphia.
• He became the first player in franchise history to hit a pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning or later to tie the game or give the Yankees the lead. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ibanez was sixth player in postseason history to hit a pinch homer in that situation. The others were Pat Sheridan (1985 Royals), Kirk Gibson (1988 Dodgers), Ed Sprague Jr. (1992 Blue Jays), Jim Leyritz (1998 Padres) and J.T. Snow (2000 Giants).
• Ibanez’s first postseason walk-off home run of his career was the 12th postseason walk-off homer in Yankees history (third in a Division Series game) and the first since Mark Teixeira Oct. 9, 2009 in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Twins at the Stadium. It came in the second latest inning of the 12 Yankees postseason “walk-off” HRs with only Leyritz’s 15th-inning homer Oct. 4, 1995 in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Mariners at the Stadium occurring later.
• It was the 23rd multi-homer postseason game in Yankees franchise history (by the 17th player) and first since Hideki Matsui Oct. 16, 2004 in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series at Boston. It was the third multi-homer ALDS game by a Yankees player (also Bernie Williams twice Oct. 6, 1995 in Game 3 at Seattle and Oct. 5, 1996 in Game 4 at Texas).
• It marked the seventh time (sixth player) that a Yankee hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning or later in the postseason, and first since Alex Rodriguez did it twice in 2009 (Game 2 of the ALCS against the Angels and Game 2 of the ALDS against the Twins, all at the Stadium.
• Dating to Sept. 22, Ibanez has 18-for-42 (.429) with nine runs, three doubles, six home runs and 11 RBI in 13 games, including 4-for-9 (.444) against left-handed pitching.
• The walk-off homer off Brian Matusz was Ibanez’s first home run of any kind off a left-handed pitcher this season.
• Of Ibanez’s 21 home runs this year (19 in the regular season and two in the postseason), 11 have come in the seventh-inning or later and 12 have tied the score or given the Yanks the lead, including nine of his past 13 homers.
• Ibanez is the first player in baseball history to homer twice in a postseason game that he did not start.
• At 40, Ibanez became the oldest player in postseason history to hit a walk-off home run, surpassing current Yankees bench coach Tony Pena who did it in Game 1 of the ALDS in 1995 for the Indians against the Red Sox at Cleveland when he was 38.