Raul Ibanez denies all steroids allegations (Image: Zuma Press)

One glance at his stats and there’s no wonder why the 37-year-old Ibanez is generating talk about his great season. He’s hitting .327 with 20 homers, 55 RBIs, 47 runs and 15 doubles. His OBP is .384 and his OPS is 1.066.

According to the blog post, these numbers may point to something shady:

Maybe the 37-year old Ibanez trained differently this offseason with the pressure of joining the Phillies’ great lineup and is in the best shape he’s ever been in.

And maybe that training included…

Well, you know where that one was going, but I’d prefer to leave it as unstated speculation.

Ibanez had a very strong reaction to that notion when he spoke with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Said Ibanez: “You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool — anything you can test.”

And if he tested positive?

“I’ll give you back every dime I’ve ever made,” answered Ibanez.

Ibanez also had some strong words aimed at bloggers in general.

“Make them accountable,” Ibanez told the Inquirer. “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.”

Personally, I’m not typing this in my mother’s basement, I don’t use a pen to type and I also don’t think Ibanez is on steroids. I think he’s a late bloomer who is feasting due to the fact that he has tons of protection around him in the middle of Philadelphia’s lineup. Plus, he won’t be able to keep up this pace.

As for the blogger, I don’t blame him for the speculation. Baseball has made their PED bed and now they have to lie in it.

Post from: Knuckle Curve