Ibanez Angry at Accusations

Raul Ibanez is not happy at all right now.

I saw this today on ESPN and it just really got to me. There was a column in the Philly Inquirer about a blogger who claimed Ibanez could be using some sort of performance enhancing drug.

"I'll come after people who defame or slander me."

"Unfortunately, I understand the environment we're in and the events that have led us to this era of speculation," he said. "At the same time, you can't just walk down the street and accuse somebody of being a thief because they didn't have a nice car yesterday and they do today. You can't say that guy is a thief."

"You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool - anything you can test," Ibanez said. "I'll give you back every dime I've ever made."

"I'll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff," he said. "Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother's basement. It demeans everything you've done with one stroke of the pen."

Are you kidding me? First I just want to say that Ibanez is playing half of his games in the hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as opposed to the spacious SafeCo Field. Before coming to Philadelphia, Ibanez has been a 20 home run guy who bats in the .290's and has averaged 85 RBI's. He has had one year where he hit 33 homers and has topped 100 RBI's 5 times.

Yea we're in an era where players are getting caught using performance enhancers such as Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, and the Mitchell Report list but that still doesn't justify speculating every single player who has a good season. Should Ibanez be pissed? I think yes. But all you have to do is just show up every day and play the game hard and just say that "If I'm clean, then screw the critics."