Feb. 17 -- IBANEZ MAKES FIRST IMPRESSION

BY SCOTT LAUBER

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Raul Ibanez gets it.

As players have trickled into camp, many with new contracts and even greater wealth, I had been waiting for someone to reference the nation's spiraling economy, which has had at least some impact on baseball this winter. Alas, nobody did. Ryan Howard, the highest-paid Phillies player, even was asked about the economy and shrugged off the notion that it had anything to do with his willingness to sign a three-year, $54 million extension after two years of not being able to reach a contract agreement with the Phillies.

But then Ibanez showed up yesterday. And, without any direct prompting (he was asked only about his three-year, $31.5 million deal and the pressures that come with both his new deal and having to replace popular Pat Burrell), he offered up this pearl: "Pressure? I wouldn't call it that. I've always felt pressure is a single mom working two jobs, trying to feed her family. That's pressure. This is baseball. I feel very blessed. The market and the way things have played out, not just the baseball market but the world market, there's a lot of people suffering out there. I just feel very fortunate."

Regardless of how Ibanez performs this season (here at Philled In, we're on record as saying he'll do just fine), his awareness of the plight of ordinary people and his refreshing outlook on his position in society as a baseball player is worth applauding, don't you think?

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Where were you when Brad Lidge threw the pitch that clinched the Phillies' first World Series title since 1980? In Philly, that's a question that will be asked for decades, sort of like "where you when JFK was shot or when Barack Obama was inaugurated.

Mike Koplove was on his deck, listening to the roar of the crowd.

Koplove, who pitched for the University of Delaware in 1998, is a South Philly native. Still lives there, too, in a house that's only about a 7-minute walk from the Bank. So, when the Phillies were on the verge of winning it all, he walked outside and took a listen. The crowd was so loud, he said, that he didn't even have to watch on TV to know how things were going.

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On tap: Big day today. The Phillies will hold their first full-squad workout, and Charlie Manuel will give his annual state of the team address to the players. We'll have more in a little while.