Thanks to three-run homers by both Raul Ibanez and Carlos Ruiz, the Philadelphia Phillies have taken a 1-0 lead in the NLCS. The Los Angeles Dodgers appeared to be rallying toward a win but they fell short and lost by a final count of 8-6.
After James Loney hit a solo shot in the second inning, the Phillies responded by putting up five runs in the fifth. Three of the runs came on the Ruiz homer, while Ryan Howard added a two-run double. The Dodgers were able to close the gap to 5-4 but then Ibanez authored his three-run blast in …read more

The blogosphere is getting some publicity thanks to some angry words coming out of Raul Ibanez’s mouth. The slugger on the Philadelphia Phillies become enraged when a blog post insinuated he may be using performance-enhancing drugs.
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 …read more

In 2009 fantasy baseball, there are a lot of outfielders who are off to a hot start. Here’s a look at the top five outfielder in our fantasy baseball rankings:
Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Philles
The World Series champions added Ibanez over the offseason to get another big bat in their lineup. So far, he’s been a great addition. He already has 20 runs, 19 RBIs and seven homers.
Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles
Markakis has been one of the hottest prospects in baseball for years and he is showing why this season. He’s hitting .379 with 25 runs, 24 RBIs and three homers. With solid …read more