Ibanez breaks through, Hamels tosses gem in win over Nationals

YOU ARE 39 years old. You have been hitting baseballs longer than some of your teammates have been driving cars, and you have been doing it at a damn high level. And then one day - poof. An 0-for-4 turns into an 0-for-8 turns into an 0-for-12. At first you are frustrated. Then you are lost. Then you are frustrated with feeling lost. The stages of grief are a lot like the stages of a slump. There is denial and isolation and anger and bargaining - or, as Charlie Manuel put it last night, a whole lotta praying - and plenty of depression.

But there is one step that Raul Ibanez never reached, and that was acceptance. Nobody knows how Raul Ibanez' season will unfold from this point forward. Not his coaches. Not the media. Not himself. But the one thing Ibanez does know is that when that ball left his bat and sent the Nationals centerfielder scrambling backwards in the fourth inning last night, the fluorescent lights at Citizens Bank Park felt like the glow of the pearly gates.

"I can't really put the feeling into words when I hit it and I saw him running for it," Ibanez said after the Phillies' 4-1 victory over Washington. "It was a big relief."

To most of us, 0-for-35 is simply a number, a statistic, a curiosity that we watch unfold with a macabre sense of intrigue. But for a baseball player like Ibanez, someone who has lived and breathed and felt himself cut open for his sport, it is life. And life, all of us will agree, can seem cruel. Outside the lines, there is plenty to remind us to treat numbers with perspective. But inside the lines, there is nothing more cruel than 0-for-35. Forget Ibanez. All you had to do was watch the reactions of the players around him when he rolled into second base after the ground-rule double that snapped the longest hitless streak of his career.

Ryan Howard, who had moved from first to third on the play, turned down the basepath to lock eyes with his teammate, clapping his hands emphatically as the rest of the stadium roared. Nationals infielder Ian Desmond, 14 years Ibanez' junior, gave the veteran leftfielder a tap on the rear end.

Ibanez' hitless streak wasn't just a slump. It was an epic: the second-longest drought by a Phillie since 1973, tied with Joe Morgan in 1983 and trailing only Desi Relaford's 0-for-36 in 1998. Morgan is a Hall of Famer. Relaford is a close family friend whose kids are pals with Ibanez'.

"You don't want to see anybody go through that, because you know as a player how tough it is," Ibanez said. "You know how much work and how much passion everyone puts into this."

It comes and it goes. It is the great mystery of baseball. Ibanez' last hit had come 15 days beforehand, an anonymous single up the middle against the Brewers on April 18. In between there were hitless series against the Padres, and the Diamondbacks, and the Mets. And there was plenty of soul-searching. Plenty.

"That's what you've got to do. You've got to grind it out," Manuel said. "When the going gets tough, you've got to stay tough with it. You keep working, you keep swinging, you do a lot of praying . . . something good might happen for you. That's how you get out of a slump. You get yourself in there. You've got to get yourself out."

It was a feel-good story on a night that was full of them. Former rightfielder Jayson Werth made his much-anticipated return to the place that jump-started his career, and the reception he received was something that defied words. It started with a mixture of boos and cheers before exploding into a standing ovation after Werth stepped out of the batter's box and tipped his cap. Seven years and $126 million can buy a lot of things, but it can't buy affirmation, and you got the sense that Werth was thrilled to receive it last night.

He was booed heartily from that point on as an energetic crowd watched Cole Hamels dominate for the complete-game victory while a revamped lineup backed him with some badly needed offense. Manuel moved Jimmy Rollins to the leadoff spot for the first time this season while sliding Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco in behind him. Rollins and Victorino reached base six times, with both scoring a run and Rollins contributing an RBI.

Hamels allowed six baserunners and struck out six in nine innings, surrendering his only run on a solo homer by Mike Morse in the seventh and lowering his ERA to 2.66 while helping the Phillies improve to 19-9.

Hamels also added some offensive with two hits, including a triple.

Oh, and Ibanez? His next hitless drought lasted just one at-bat, ending at the hands of an RBI double in the seventh inning. Now, suddenly, he finds himself the proud owner of a hitting streak, trailing the great Joe DiMaggio by only 55 games.

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at www.philly.com/HighCheese.

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