New York Nine

Bloggers seem to have always gotten a bad wrap ever since this whole blogging thing started and the case of Raul Ibanez is no different. Indeed, ever since the "blog" became a legitmate tool for fans and people everywhere to voice their opinion (like your humble writer) the mainstream media and the so-called powers that be have not liked them nipping at their respective toes. For sure, players and writers alike have grown accustomed to dealing with only "professionals" writers who went to school to talk about their subject and for some reason their opinons are worth more, that they in fact have some sort of god-given right to say what they say because someone is paying to put those words into print. If you can't tell from my dry tone I really think that this way of thinking is a load of crap. Of course, these men and women of the journalism world are more qualified than us peons who are just fans with day jobs. They have access that we don't have, know things that we don't, and most importantly the time and resources to get to the bottom of the issue, because well its their job. But the matter of opinions is an entirely different issue. For certain, as with any subject, whether that be movies, books, politics, everyone has an opinion, it may not be the most learned one or rooted in truth, but in the world of a free press we can voice those today better than ever. Blogs such as these give me and other people a platform to be heard, to put their flag in the sand and be heard and why not? I'm being a bit roundabout about my point, but in the case of Raul Ibanez and Jared Morris the blogger who insuated that ibanez might be on steroids is yet another case of the mainstream trying to discredit the blogosphere and diminish our importance or ability to voice our opinons and Ive grown weary of it. Ibanez is a public figure, an entertainer playing a childrens game for millions of dollars and playing at an exceedingly high level at the ripe age of 37, if he doesn't like the criticism tough shit, go live in a mountain then because this is the era of baseball we are in and suspiscion knows no bounds.

My last sentence seems exceedingly callous and unkind, but the reality is it is Raul who's been naive and mean-spirited.

"I'll come after people who defame or slander me," he said Tuesday night before the Phillies played the New York Mets, according to the report. "It's pathetic and disgusting. There should be some accountability for people who put that out there."

"I'll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff," he said, according to the Inquirer. "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."

Pretty harsh words for a guy who never even directly said "Raul Ibanez did steroids" here's what he said;

"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. However, if Ibanez ends up hitting 45-50 homers this year, you can bet that I won't be the only one raising the question. And judging by my buddy's message board post this morning, and questions like this in public forums, people already are."

Perhaps you could accuse Morris of not being a great wordsmith, but the lines here are less slander and more an accurate depiction of the state of baseball. As I have said time and time again here with all we know about steroids now and how prevalent they have been in the last decade plus the entire sport is under investigation. One by one superstars have been found out to be the cheaters they are and time and time again guys that we were "sure" didn't juice came up on the Mitchell Report or a positive test or BALCO or whatever, its everywhere. In short we live in a time as baseball fans where the whole sport is subject to suspicion by the fans and media alike and when something seemingly out of the ordinary happens we pay close attention. Sure maybe it is not said right away or even directly stated, but when a 37 year old outfielder who's made a career of being a pretty decent leader all of a sudden is in the top 5 of OPS home runs, batting average, RBIs and pretty much every other statistic you'd have to be naive to at least wonder if things aren't totally on the up and and up, and who could blame you! We've seen it before! Barry Bonds breaking the home run record in his late 30s, bums like Brady Anderson and Brett Boone all of a sudden hitting 50 and 40 home runs, Roger Clemens suddenly finding a few MPH on his fastball in Toronto just to name a few who at the time "just happened to have a comback year in the late 30s" who were found to be the cheaters they are. Does that make Ibanez a cheater? Of course not, but it's at the very least suspcious.

I really do hope Ibanez doesn't come up on a positive test nor do I wish any player does (well except for Ortiz, I know he's a cheating bastard) but if he did I can't say I'd be too surpised, he wouldn't be the first or unfortunately probably not the last either. It is, as the saying goes, a sign of the times in our national pastime that we are forced to be ever watchful, ever keeping a critical eye on someone who just suddenly becomes leaps and bounds better or packs on a few pounds of muscle, and who could blame us fans, we've been duped too many times not to be! These are the times we live in and in these times as public figure you have to at least be able to deflect or deal with criticism like this, its the nature of the job, and if they can't he should just go to his mother's basement, I'm sure there are no bloggers there.