The question: Phillies' Ibanez wonders why A-Rod would do it.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Even after watching Alex Rodriguez talk about his use of performance enhancers during a news conference yesterday, Raul Ibanez was still asking himself why such a gifted player would try to enhance himself through chemical means.

"He is the most talented player I've ever seen," Ibanez said in the Phillies' clubhouse. "He didn't need that."

Ibanez and Rodriguez both hail from the Miami area. They were teammates in the Seattle organization, in the minors and majors. In fact, they worked out together before the 1999 season.

"It floored me when I heard it," Ibanez said. "I never thought to think of Alex because he worked his tail off. I ran and hit and threw with him, and he was like a machine."

Rodriguez confessed to using performance enhancers from 2001 to 2003 after Sports Illustrated reported that he tested positive for steroids in 2003 in what was supposed to be anonymous survey testing. Of the 104 players who tested positive that year, Rodriguez's name is the only one to have been revealed.

Baseball began punishing players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2004.

Over the weekend, Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer told The Inquirer that he hoped the list would either be destroyed or revealed in full. Moyer said baseball needed to move on from the steroid era and start with a clean slate.

Ibanez, an outfielder, said he didn't care what happened to the list.

Phils closer Brad Lidge would like to see the names on the list revealed.

"I wish they would just come out and say who the 104 players are because it's not fair for the other players," Lidge said in an interview with the Associated Press yesterday. "We're all lumped in with them, and people think most players did it during the steroid era.

"But all of us didn't cheat. I don't care how they do it, they should name all of the players on the list."

Over the weekend, Moyer made it clear that he had little sympathy for Rodriguez.

"When people have had an impact on your life, you want to feel for them," he said. "But how can I feel for him? To me, if you're doing it, you know it's illegal. I commend him for coming out and saying it, but why didn't he say it seven years ago?

"One day [Rodriguez] is a Hall of Famer, and in a 24-hour period he's not because of a poor decision. That's a shame.''

Ibanez was more sympathetic.

"I know him and I feel for him," he said. "I know he's hurting, but he's acknowledging it, which is a positive thing."

Ibanez is a conditioning freak. He said his dedication to conditioning was actually a result of the steroid era.

"I'm thankful to the guys who were cheating because it made me better," he said. "I wasn't going to take that route, and it made me work harder. I probably would never have gone into the weight room if guys hadn't gotten so big."

Ibanez, a married father of four, said he never used steroids. "I had no kids at the time, but I knew I wanted them. My heart and liver were way too important," he said.

After using the word cheating, Ibanez was asked if he thought Rodriguez was a cheater.

"I guess he did the wrong thing," Ibanez said, not completely answering the question. "He acknowledged that."

Ibanez was tired of the steroid cloud that has hovered over the game for years, but acknowledged that "we brought it upon ourselves."

"It bothers me because I grew up idolizing Mike Schmidt, George Brett and Don Mattingly," Ibanez said. "There are kids out there watching with the same fervor, and they're watching this. We're definitely role models.

"But now we have a testing policy, and I think we can agree the overwhelming majority of players are clean."