Phillies OF Raul Ibanez is in the midst of a breakout season, and with his success comes speculation he’s taken a shortcut or two.  “All I’ve got is blood for you” the Bard Of Hooksett, NH once sang, yet the equally midjudged Ibanez tells the Philadelphia Daily News’ Jim Salisbury he’s got much, much more to offer.

“I’ll come after people who defame or slander me,” Ibanez said before last night’s game against the New York Mets. “It’s pathetic and disgusting. There should be some accountability for people who put that out there.”

“Unfortunately, I understand the environment we’re in and the events that have led us to this era of speculation,” he said. “At the same time, you can’t just walk down the street and accuse somebody of being a thief because they didn’t have a nice car yesterday and they do today. You can’t say that guy is a thief.”

Ibanez said he had never used performance-enhancing drugs.

“You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool – anything you can test,” Ibanez said. “I’ll give you back every dime I’ve ever made” if the test is positive.

“I’ll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff,” he said. “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.

“It’s unfair because this story should be about how hard work, determination, and desire trumps chemicals and shortcuts,” he said. “That should be the message: desire, character, work ethic. But some guy who doesn’t know me – one idiot – says something like this. They should be held accountable. It’s cowardly.”