Baseball Brunch: The Raul Deal in Philly

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

If you don't know which outfielder, other than Carlos Beltran, has the most RBI since the start of the 2006 season, don't worry.

It doesn't bother Raul Ibañez.

Because Ibañez worries only about the perception of him by his family and peers, he has had no trouble fitting in with the Phillies. And while he says he will never try to justify his new three-year, $31.5 million deal – perhaps the most criticized signing of the offseason – he has thus far done just that.

"You can't justify a contract, " Ibañez told FanHouse last week. "We get paid more than surgeons, astronauts, rocket scientists. How do you justify any of it?

"My worth is not in my contract or in my performance. My self-worth is in who I am as a person, and it's two different things. So if you could confuse the two, yeah, I think that could cause problems. But who I am is not what I do. Who I am is a husband, a father, a son, and my family comes first."

So while some players might press after signing a big deal, Ibañez's grounded attitude has allowed him simply to blend right in.

"He's been playing super," manager Charlie Manuel said. "I heard some talk about his defense, but so far his defense has been absolutely outstanding. ... I knew he could hit. He runs the bases good and he's also been playing tremendous outfield."

Ibañez, who turns 37 on June 2, went into the weekend sixth in the NL in average (.339), tied for third in homers (nine), tied for first in total bases (74) and second in slugging (.679).

"I was already kind of putting together in my mind what kind of discussion I would have with him if he got off to a slow start," Phillies first-year general manager Ruben Amaro said. "'Just be yourself. Be Raul. You don't have to do anything more than what you do.'"

But the speech wasn't necessary. Ibañez already had that attitude.

His explanation: "Just ignoring all the variables that I can't control and taking care of the stuff that I can control, and doing what I've always done."

The Phillies signed Ibañez in December to replace Pat Burrell in left field. And then the bottom fell out of the free-agent market. Bobby Abreu would up signing for one year and $5 million; Garret Anderson got $2.5 million; Ken Griffey Jr. just a $2 million base.

As he watched prices fall, Amaro had no regrets about giving Ibañez so much.

"No, no, no, no," Amaro said. "Because I'm sure that there were teams out there that had him No. 1 [after] Manny [Ramirez] on their list. So my thought was that we better strike on this guy because when it all starts falling, he's going to be the guy people are going to want. ... Sometimes it's good to be patient; sometimes it's not. He was the guy that we targeted as our No. 1 offensive player. We had to strike when we had to strike.

"Once we make a decision, we don't look back."

Amaro felt that despite Ibañez's age, his career was still on the upswing (perhaps because Ibañez didn't become a regular player until he was 30). Over the past three-plus seasons, Ibanez has 361 RBI to Beltran's 362.

"I think he's still improving," Amaro said. "I was convinced that he's the kind of guy that's not going to rest on his laurels. You don't mind taking a risk on a guy like that."

And there was a mutual comfort level because the Phillies had some people (including Pat Gillick and Jamie Moyer) with ties to the Mariners, where Ibañez spent the previous five seasons.

"I just count my blessings," Ibañez said. "Seth and Sam Levinson, my agents, did a great job. And what else could you ask for? You get the deal that you're looking for with the team that you wanted. How often does that happen during the winter?"

So Ibañez is happy. And even though he has left the small markets of Kansas City and Seattle for a major market, recognition may still be hard to come by because he still plays in the shadow of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley Cole Hamels and Jimmy Rollins.

That's fine by Ibañez.

"I don't even think in those terms," he said. "People may think that way. I don't even think that way. I don't think about spotlights, not spotlights, things like that. I just do my job.

"All that other stuff is just real self-absorbed stuff."

Overheard and Understood

• A scout who has closely watched video of struggling Mets lefty Oliver Perez said part of Perez's problem is how he lands with his front foot. Perez not only throws "across his body," with his right foot landing almost even with his left shoulder, but his toes are pointed almost 60 degrees away from a line toward home plate. It's nearly impossible with that delivery to accurately drive the ball to the glove-hand side of the plate (away to lefties). "That's why he can't throw strikes," the scout said. "You can't get extension. You're locked out with your lower half."

Chart of the Week
Four times this season a pitcher has struck out 12 or more batters and lost. That happened only twice last year and twice in 2007. The 2009 occurrences:
Pitcher, Team	Date, Opp.
Santana, Mets	April 12, at Fla
Vazquez, Atl	April 14, vs Fla
Chamberlain, Yankees	May 5, vs Bos
Peavy, SD	May 6, vs Ari
Source: baseball-reference.com

• Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon has his own managerial style – unconventional at times, and brave – and if you watch closely as he runs a game, he will make you think. At Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, he replaced a left-handed reliever with another lefty and a right-hander with a right-hander, both changes coming mid-inning – moves many managers would never make. But Maddon had good reason.

He used J.P. Howell to face Johnny Damon in the eighth instead of situational lefty Brian Shouse because switch-hitter Mark Teixeira followed Damon and Maddon didn't want Shouse to face a right-hander hitter with a man on base. Once Damon walked and Teixeira doubled, tying the game, Shouse replaced Howell to face three straight left-handed hitters. In the ninth, Joe Nelson came in to face two more switch-hitters before Grant Balfour entered to get right-handed hitter Jose Molina. "It's all about matchups," Maddon said. "Before the game begins, I try to choreograph the relief pitchers as well as we can."

• Joba Chamberlain's nine strikeouts on called third strikes Tuesday against the Red Sox were the most in the majors since Sept. 2, 2001, when Mike Mussina had nine at Boston.

• The middle name of Tigers backup catcher Dane Sardinha is Kalahanauokekainalu Akina Akeo ("Born on the day of high surf"). His brother, Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha, played 10 games for the 2007 Yankees.

• According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Chipper Jones is the fourth player to hit at least 40 home runs against both the Mets and Phillies, joining Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey.

• San Francisco last week promoted two of its top pitching prospects, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson, from Single-A to Double-A. "Bumgarner is going to be something, man," said an executive from another team who saw both pitchers this season. "He's like another [Andy] Pettitte."

• Ryan Minor, who played third base for the Orioles the day Cal Ripken Jr.'s consecutive-games streak ended, is a coach in the Baltimore farm system.

• Arizona's Max Scherzer is winless through 12 career starts despite pitching quite well (3.39 ERA). According to Elias, that's the second-lowest ERA ever for a pitcher who did not win through his first 11 starts, after Guy Morton of the 1914 Indians.

• Cleveland catcher Kelly Shoppach has been hit by a pitch eight times in 63 plate appearances. Only seven times has a player been plunked 30 or more times in a season, and never in fewer than 627 plate appearances.

• The Rockies are 0-8 in one-run games. The 2000 Astros set the record by losing their first 12 one-runs games.

• When Washington promoted lefty Ron Villone from the minors, it allowed Villone to tie the North American major sports record by playing for his 12th team (also held by pitcher Mike Morgan and NHL center Mike Sillinger). Villone, 39, has taken the mound in 43 different ballparks.

• A high school game Saturday at San Diego's Petco Park included Austin Finley and Jose Vizcaino Jr. of Francis Parker School. Their dads, Steve Finley and Jose Vizcaino, were teammates on the 2006 Giants and combined for 37 seasons in the big leagues.

• Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon on Manny Ramirez's suspension just as Alex Rodriguez was coming back: "This era is definitely tarnished."