Results tagged “Raul Ibanez” from The Southpaw

The Philadelphia Phillies Cliff Lee has definitely arrived. Maybe those headlines of Frillies will disappear.
Cliff Lee was absurd.
First, there was the casual catch, then there was the "You're doin' great there," pat on the rear end tag.
Then he just plain showed off with the routine behind-the-back play.
That's one every Little League coach has in his playbook.
But he topped all that off by saying afterword that he wasn't nervous.
Joe Posnanski, for one, doesn't believe him.

The Southpaw is sick and tired of King Felix. He's barely a duke. Barely.
The Phillies opened up a can Monday.
And yes, we actually defend Derek Jeter.

Earlier this week, we gave you our selections for the American League.
Now, without further delay, is our NL squad.

1B Albert Pujols. We admit our bias. We really want to pick Ryan Howard, but just can't justify it over Pujols. We don't have to tell you Pujols is the best hitter in the game. If you didn't know that, you don't know that you probably think a warning track is "Stop in the name of love." Another tough person not to vote for was Adrian Gonzalez
2BChase Utley. How could we pick anyone else? Only Freddie Sanchez and Orlando Hudson have higher batting averages. No one has more home runs or runs driven in.
3BDavid Wright. This is surprisingly a deep position. Mark Reynolds has 21 home runs. That's insane. But Wright is batting .359 with 19 stolen bases. It was also hard not to vote for Ryan Zimmerman
SSHanley Ramirez. This was another tough call. We wanted to go with Christian Guzman, but Ramirez' numbers are just too impressive. He has a .339 average and 12 home runs.
C Benji Molina. It's hard to call him a star, but he belongs on this team. He's got 10 home runs and he's so good behind the plate.
OFRaul Ibanez - He carried the Phillies. Until his injury he was a big-time MVP candidate.
OFRyan Braun - He's quickly becoming one of the premier players in the game. He's got 16 big flys and a .321 average.
OF Justin Upton - He's the only outfielder with at least a .300 average, 10 home runs and 10 runs driven in.

From the AP:
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Phillies left fielder Raul Ibanez has gone on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left groin.
John Mayberry Jr. was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Thursday to take Ibanez's roster spot. Ibanez is batting .312 with 22 homers and 59 RBIs, ranking second in the NL in homers and RBIs.
Mayberry was 2 for 9 with a double, homer and three RBIs in his first stint with the Phillies last month. He was hitting .257 with eight homers and 31 RBIs for the IronPigs.

According to Major League Baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez is plummeting in the all star balloting.
Ahead of Manny are: Raul Ibanez, Ryan Braun, Carlos Beltran, Alfonso Soriano and Shane Victorino.

Do we know whether or not Raul Ibanez has ever taken a performance enhancing drug? No. And I'll let my bias out there known that I am a Philadelphia Phillies fan.
That said, what was written on a sports blog about Ibanez and his fantastic season at the age of 37 was absolutely correct.
Jerod Morris runs the Midwest Sports Fan Web site. He never said he thought Ibanez took drugs, let alone that he had evidence of him doing so. However, Morris actually defended Ibanez with his post.
And while we think Ibanez has a right to be angry, we think he's being very ignorant if he's pushing his anger toward Morris.
The slugger, if he's innocent, should be putting all of his resentment at the feet of Major League Baseball, the Commissioner's office, and the Players' Union.
If it wasn't for their 20 years willful, near criminal negligence, this wouldn't be an issue.
However, because steroids and performance enhancers were never addressed when they should have been, none of us should trust any player who stepped on a field in the past 25 years.
Not a one.
That's hard for us to say.
And we watched with interest this exchange on ESPN.com but think Ken Rosenthal is dead wrong.
And here's why.

Another stadium that should have been saved.

The draft seems to be on everybody's mind.
Who was the first player to get 3,000 hits?
Oh yeah, Ozzie Guillen went crazy again. That's always fun.
BREAKING: Mo won't go against the Bo Sox tonight.

The World Champs are in The Bronx.
All is right with the world. There's going to be a Gwynn in San Diego.
And a Peavy too. For now.

April's over boys and girls.
So crank up the grill, grab a Dr Pepper and check out our month-end look at the most powerful teams and players in baseball.

With April coming to a close, the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles' major off-season moves are looking pretty sharp.
Raul Ibanez is lighting up the National League.
And Koji Uehara is pitching very well.

Raul Ibanez parks the Phillies' second of two grand slams Monday night. The World Champs have won four straight. Boston, however, has 11 consecutive wins.
Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Pena and Albert Pujols are doing something that hasn't been accomplished since Babe Ruth patrolled the outfield in the first Yankee Stadium.
Oh and, the Phillies had a grand night.

So why are Little Leaguers breaking their piggy banks for Nats' supposed hothead Elijah Dukes?
The Mid-Atlantic is heating up.
And why is Dontrelle Willis so important?

We left early. We left early. Will we ever forgive ourselves.
Raul Ibanez blasted a come-from-behind, walk-off home run to cap a 4-run rally.
But we didn't see it. We left early from the Phillies 5-4 win over the Padres. And for what? Pizza and a Cheesesteak at the other end of town.
Well, we had a good time anyway. We did see Jimmy Rollins' pinch hit home run. And we also saw Ryan Howard play some spectacular defense.

With the rest of the first pitch, we revamp our daily updates.

In today's first pitch we take an in-depth look at some issues for the area's squads, the Philadelphia Philles, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals.
We also look at the underrated Orlando Hernandez and what he brings to his new team.