Bob Ford: Phillies' Raul Ibanez tries to turn it around

The game had ended, and nearly all the Phillies made their escape from Citizens Bank Park quickly and quietly. They would have to report for another day game soon enough and, really, it wasn't as if the team wanted to hang around and savor the nuances of Saturday's muggy 5-1 loss to Toronto.

There are games like this, annoying bunions on the schedule in which very little goes right. Cole Hamels wasn't very good and the Phils' offense couldn't do much with Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum, who had the annoying ability on this occasion to throw his diving change-up for a strike.

The Phillies fished around for the ball, but they didn't find it very often, and that was pretty much how things went. It was another game to tick off the calendar and nothing more. After winning four games in a row and seven of nine, it was a silent shrug.

Out the door of the clubhouse and down the hallway that leads to the dugout, the stillness was broken by the rhythmic crack of balls being hit in the indoor batting cage. Thwack!-2-3-4-Thwack!-2-3-4-Thwack! And on and on.

When Raul Ibanez finally finished, dripping sweat, he carried his two bats to the locker room and, not for the first time, had the place to himself.

In a season in which the Phillies suffered through an extensive offensive slump from which they are only recently emerging, Ibanez has been among the biggest disappointments. He has struggled all season, failing to hit either for average or for power. Often after games, he takes extra hitting, trying to unlock the door that has always swung wide for him during a long career.

"I'm working on it," Ibanez said. "I hope it's not too far away, but I'm doing everything in my power to work on it. You name it."

He studies tape of himself at the plate, both his current at-bats and the ones from last season when he hit 34 home runs and drove home 93 runs for the Phillies. He tinkers with his grip, with his stance, with where he positions himself at the plate. He tries new bats, tries new warm-up techniques.

"You name it," he said.

Ibanez knows what people are thinking. He turned 38 at the beginning of this month and knows there is talk that he has reached the end of the road without having to actually hear it. He also is coming off surgery to repair an abdominal tear and he can hear what people are saying about that, particularly in combination with his age.

"Physically, I'm OK. I'm just frustrated and determined to figure this thing out," Ibanez said. "When you're 38 and you struggle, they say, 'It's because he's 38.' If you're 25 and you struggle, they say, 'It's because he's young.' If you're 30 and you've been good before, they say, 'He'll get it back.' But when you're 38, they say you're too old. Well, I've been hearing those voices my whole career and I've been proving people wrong for a long time, and I'm going to die trying."

Ibanez hasn't had a gold-paved ride from the start. He was taken in the 36th round of the baseball draft, but made his major-league debut with Seattle just four years later. He didn't really come into his own until a mid-career move to Kansas City, where he established himself as an everyday player for three seasons before returning to Seattle. The Phils signed him as a free agent to replace Pat Burrell after the 2008 season, and he fit in seamlessly last season.

That was last season, however, and with his current dip in production, combined with the $11.5 million he is owed for 2011, Ibanez knows how it looks. It doesn't look good.

"The only thing I know how to do is to work," Ibanez said. "I've been streaky before, but when I haven't gone well, I've usually still been productive. With guys on, you can still find a way to drive in a run with your B swing. Stuff like that. And sometimes you can hit the ball good but have nothing to show for it. But I'm finding that I'm only hitting one or two balls on the barrel instead of hitting three balls on the barrel. I can't explain it."

He has had a brief glimmer recently, before going 0 for 4 Saturday against the perplexing Marcum and the Blue Jays. After his average bottomed out at .229, Ibanez hit safely in 12 of 16 games before Saturday, batting .293 in that span to lift his average somewhat. Ibanez will know when things are fixed, however, and he knows that hasn't happened yet. He still has only five home runs and 32 RBIs.

"Mainly, I want to put an easier swing on the ball, not try to do too much," Ibanez said. "I'm guilty of that sometimes, like everyone here. If you care, you try too hard at times. So, I want to just maintain a consistent approach and remember that sometimes less is more. You try never to forget that."

With that, Ibanez slipped the bats into his locker and called it a day. Another game was gone and he still didn't know the answer. It is out there somewhere, though. He is sure of that much. So far, he is also still sure he will find it.

"I'll let you know," he said, and smiled.