Pain-free Ibanez ready to produce

CLEARWATER, Fla. - True to form, Raul Ibanez again downplayed the abdominal injury that forced his off-season surgery for a sports hernia. The Phillies leftfielder doesn't believe it caused his second-half decline, considering that he remembers pain as far back as May.

But as he begins this spring training with no restrictions on his regimen, Ibanez is happy to know that the pain he played through for most of 2009 is in the past.

"It's kind of like a blur," Ibanez said yesterday after arriving at camp. "It's all jumbled together in my mind. But the good thing is I'm glad it's over. I don't even want to dwell on it that much."

There is a "big difference," he said, between how he feels now, after the Nov. 9 surgery, and during last season, when he batted .272 with 34 home runs and 93 RBIs. And while those numbers are solid production for a leftfielder, Ibanez's torrid start to the season suggested he was in for something better.

Before the all-star break, Ibanez hit .309 with 22 home runs and 60 RBIs. Afterward, his average was .232, and he hit just 12 home runs with 33 RBIs. The injury is not to blame, Ibanez said.

"That had nothing to do with it," he said. "That was me. I should've been better. I should've played better. It has nothing to do with anything I was feeling. I could've still done it."

But there was a lot of pain, right?

"Everybody has discomfort at that point of the season anyway," Ibanez said. "There's usually some discomfort. I should've done better. That wasn't me there at the end there, and I'm looking to correct that."

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel disagreed, saying the injury caused Ibanez's struggles.

"I think it definitely showed," Manuel said. "It had something to do with the second half of the season for him. That's what I think."

The pain was "unbearable" by June, Ibanez said, eliminating any notions he had about being able to play through it the entire season. That was when he went on the disabled list with what was termed as a groin injury.

After the surgery, Ibanez changed his off-season routine. He started working out in the weight room during the second week of December. In January, he began swinging a bat. He is always trying to adjust his routine, he said, but this time it was out of necessity and could benefit him later.

"In 2004, I had a hamstring injury - that was my last time on the DL - and I had to completely change what I do during the off-season," Ibanez said. "I had to go to a different strength guy, everything, and it turned out to be the best thing for me. With this happening now, I've had to completely change what I do again.

"I think it's going to be the best thing for me again carrying over to different stages of your career. You do the same thing for too long, your body is going to get accustomed to it and it's not going to respond. I accepted it as a challenge, but I'm grateful for it because it's going to make me a little bit better."

This season, Manuel said, he is at least open to the idea of giving Ibanez more rest. Last season, Ibanez played in 134 games, his fewest since 2004, when he played 123. He will turn 38 in June.

With a capable backup in Ben Francisco, Manuel could look to his bench more often.

"I think there's a good chance," Manuel said. "But how much he's going to play depends on how Francisco is doing and how good he's doing. But at the same time, there's a good chance he's going to need some rest.

"He's not going to play 162 games. If he is, he's going to be having a hell of a year."