It’s that time of year when Phillies fans have the chance to take the road trip of a lifetime to Wrigley Field and watch the Phillies destroy the perenially-lifeless Cubs. At 6 games over .500 and 33-19 at home, the Cubs are theoretically in the playoff hunt. But when you look a little closer, you realize the Cubs have players like Alfonso Soriano (a worse and more disinterested defensive left fielder than Manny Ramirez) and Milton Bradley (crazier than Teddy Duchamp’s dad in “Stand by Me”). Coupled with pitching staffs historically-riddled by injury (Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly, Ryan Dempster) and mental midgets like Carlos Zambrano and Lou Piniella and it’s no wonder the product on the field at Wrigley makes the park little more than the “bar” that Ozzie Guillen so accurately described it as.

Don’t get me wrong, Wrigley is a great place to watch a game (especially if you’re a fan of the visiting team). Things like what you see to the left are to be had in abundance and you don’t have to walk through 10 miles of concrete parking lots outside the park in order to get to a bar. Wrigley Field is a model of what an urban ballpark and its immediate surrounding can do for the vivacity and excitement of a city and its fans. And it’s especially wonderful for all the Cubs fans to have so many distractions outside and in the park since nothing on the field is ever worth looking at.

Anyway, Phils win all three. Tonight: J.A. Happ (8-2, 2.74) vs Rich Harden (7-7, 4.41). Tomorrow: Pedro Martinez vs. Jeff Samardzija (their closer is starting? 1-1, 6.29). Thursday: Cliff Lee (9-9, 2.95) vs. Ryan Dempster (6-5, 4.04).

It’s official: Jamie Moyer has been moved to the bullpen and Pedro Martinez will make his debut on Wednesday night against the Cubs. J.A. Happ will start tomorrow in the first game against Chicago. In other pitching news, the Phils have activated Chad Durbin from the D.L.

Despite all the disingenuous and idiotic talk last week about a 6-man rotation, what’s likely to happen to the Phillies rotation is that it will be without Jamie Moyer. Pedro Martinez appears to be ready to pitch and may even be on the mound tomorrow night in Chicago (though the Phillies still have a “TBD” listed for tomorrow’s night’s starter). I’m not sure the Phillies thought it would come to this but a spot has to be opened up for Martinez to audition for the post-season rotation and Moyer’s spot is the only one that makes sense for him to fill.

Jim Salisbury at the Inquirer seems to think this is a good idea. I suppose it’s a good idea if determining a 5th-starter for the next month and a half is really that important. The long-term impact will only be felt if Pedro manages to distinguish himself to the extent he deserves to take one of the top-4 guys’ spots in the playoff rotation. You can sit Moyer down to audition Martinez but in reality, Moyer won’t be starting in October anyway, so he’s being shut down simply to see what Pedro can do.

So I guess the point is that Moyer’s sitting in the hopes Pedro will not only supplant Jamie but surpass Happ or Blanton as well. For my part, I’d sit Cole Hamels for 10 days. Despite his bold talk about pitching well when it matters, he has done little to inspire confidence in his ability to beat Matt Cain, Adam Wainwright or Clayton Kershaw in a playoff start. Now that the serious focus is on being in playoff shape, Moyer’s benching would be little more than a human interest story. The real fine tuning needs to be at the #2 spot.

Jamie Moyer (10-7, 5.32) will fire the Phils’ first shots tonight in a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies. Opposing him will be Jason Hammel (5-6, 4.66), who, not surprisingly, has a lower ERA than Moyer. What is surprising is that his ERA is lower than his near-namesake and fading ace, Cole Hamels (4.68). Well at least it’s close.

Just because Cliff Lee made the Giants look like a bunch of circus monkeys last week in his much-hyped debut doesn’t mean we’re all sold on the state of the Phillies pitching. Sounds like Ruben Amaro is however. The way things currently stand the best-possible playoff starting rotation would be Lee, Hamels, Blanton and Happ. Of course, there are many out there who would argue that Jamie Moyer should be in the rotation because he’s from Souderton. Oh well, either way that rotation is out-matched by St. Louis and San Francisco. To that effect Bill Conlin chimed in earlier today.

I don’t want to get too down on the Phillies. After all, they always manage to beat bad teams (provided they’re not A.L. teams). And I’m really not trying to knock Ruben Amaro; the guy’s done a pretty good job in his first year (see Raul Ibanez and Cliff Lee). But there are big question marks in the starting rotation as well as in the bullpen, most notably Cole Hamels and Lights-On Lidge. Hopefully, when Condrey and Romero return from injury and Pedro is ready to go (whatever that may mean), Charlie Manuel Rich Dubee will be able to fit the puzzle pieces correctly.

Jayson Stark is reporting that the Toronto Blue Jays have formally proposed a trade with the Phillies involving ace, Roy Halladay. J.P. Ricciardi and the Jays would be willing to part with Halladay in exchange for J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek and Dominic Brown. Apparently the Toronto pitcher’s body of work hasn’t shown enough to convince Ruben Amaro to part with Happ and 2 guys who’ve never played an inning of Major League ball.

Nor were the Phillies particularly impressed with Halladay’s outing last night against the Tampa Bay Rays, a team ranked 3rd in baseball in runs scored (only the Yankees and Angels have crossed the plate more). While Happ got shelled by the Cardinals, Halladay pitched 9 innings, giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run while walking 3 and striking out 10. Adding to the resume that’s printed on gold leaf, Halladay recorded his 44th complete game since 1998; Randy Johnson is the only other pitcher with that many complete games during the past 12 seasons.

The quote of the day on this matter was from an unnamed talent evaluator (presumably a Toronto guy) who Stark claims is involved in the Halladay proceedings:

The Phillies are going to have to step up if they want him. Happ is OK (as a prospect) and Drabek is a good prospect, but neither of these guys is ever going to be what Halladay is. They’re prospects, and Halladay is Halladay; he’s the best. If Happ and Drabek are not both in the deal, it’s not going to happen.

From a baseball perspective, that’s pretty much the whole story. The Phillies know Halladay is going to cost an arm and a leg and they’ve shown themselves to be quite willing to pass on big-time contracts in the past. Despite the ado surrounding last year’s championship as well as this year’s cake walk both fresh in fans’ minds, it’s important to remember that this team’s ownership junta hasn’t exactly shown themselves to come from the George Steinbrenner school of talent acquisition.

But money issues aside, there is no baseball reason not to make this trade. In terms of this season, Happ is the only player involved who would affect a World Series hunt and nobody can seriously argue that he’s be better for the Phillies run this year than Halladay. And ditto for next season as D. Brown will have no roster spot available to him and there’s no way Drabek comes in and has a rookie season anywhere comparable to what Halladay will produce.

Giving the Phillies the benefit of the doubt, the fact that they’re holding out for a better deal with a week to go until the deadline is just fine. It’s reported they’re trying to get Toronto to bite on Carlos Carrasco instead of Drabek. For my part, they can have Carrasco, Drabek and Happ as long as we get Halladay. Bottom line: the Phillies are the N.L. favorites this season and the next with Roy Halladay. Without him, they’re in the mix. And if you want to be stubborn and hold onto the prospects, let’s reconvene this conversation in 5 years.

I generally enjoy reading what Jayson Stark has to say and this week’s installment of Rumblings & Grumblings is no exception. Of particular pleasure is the fact that he devotes about 2/3 of the column space to the Phillies, which reminds me that they’ve “made it.” I’m also reminded that Stark uses shorter sentences than I do which is probably why he gets paid the big bucks while I sit in my red underwear in bed with my dog.

The general theme of Stark’s column is the trade deadline. With the Phillies and Roy Halladay obviously inspiring the topic, J.S. gives us the “The Five Biggest Myths About the Trading Deadline.” While most of his examples don’t directly have anything to do with the Phillies historically, the reader gets the idea that Stark is making the case against the Phillies trading away prospects and young talent for Halladay. One interesting fact in particular:

Over the past 32 years, exactly 3 pitchers who’ve changed teams in mid-season have won a World Series game: Joe Blanton (last year), Jeff Weaver for the 2006 Cardinals and Mike Torrez for the 1977 Yankees.

About the Phillies’ interest in trading for Roy Halladay in the midst of their hot streak:

A Phillies source told Rumblings (Stark) you can forget that talk that the Phillies might be less motivated to deal for Roy Halladay because they’re running away with the N.L. East. If anything, he said, the Phillies are now even more motivated. “The focus is now not just to get there (the post season),” he said. It’s to get there and keep going. Making the playoffs is not the goal. To win the whole thing is the goal.”

About the very-real prospect of the A.L. East boogeymen (Yankees, Red Sox and Rays) being the A.L. rep in the World Series:

The Phillies know there’s a good possibility they’ll have to face one of the three A.L. East pirahnas. And the Phillies just went 6-12–while allowing 5.5 runs per game–versus the A.L. East in interleague play. If you subtract the now-injured Brett Myers, the Phillies rotation went 3-7 with a 4.74 ERA in that stretch…And what’s Halladay’s career record against the A.L. East? How about 59-30? Don’t think the Phillies haven’t noticed that fun little stat.

Stark goes on to talk about J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek, Dominic Brown and Michael Taylor and the fact that the Phils may be in the market for Orioles reliever, George Sherill as well as a right-handed bat (yawn). Finally, he related Jayson Werth’s idea that hitters would be more motivated to participate in the Home Run Derby if the winner were awarded a bag filled with $100 bills.

Well now that I’ve done little more than let Jayson Stark do all my work for me, I’ll leave you alone with these thoughts. Come to think of it, I could have done even less and simply posted the link to his article. But then the bikini pic would have made less sense. Or not.

After 2 games against the Cubs, the Phillies are 2-0 which means they’ve won 5 consecutive series, 10 of their last 11 games and since getting swept by the Braves to open July, they’ve won 14 of the last 15 games. The offense has scored 93 runs during this stretch and the pitching staff is allowing an average of 2.3 runs per game, creating an average margin of victory of 4 runs.

Granted, the records of the Phillies’ last 5 opponents are a combined 18 games under .500 but the Phils are doing exactly what good teams are supposed to do: win the games on the schedule they should. It’s a good thing they’ve cleaned-up in July because their schedule through August will be a lot tougher with series against wild-card contenders San Francisco and Colorado, the N.L Central-leading Cardinals, the above-.500 Marlins and Cubs as well as 6 games against the red hot Braves. As the National League goes these days, this schedule qualifies as pretty tough.

The team’s recent success combined with the Pedro Martinez excitement, J.A. Happ hysteria and Rodrigo Lopez’s recent quality starts has created an environment where fans aren’t demanding Ruben Amaro produce Roy Halladay. Glossing over the big picture of remaining focused on a World Series win by ignoring the importance of making this trade would be an awful by-product of the current streak. Unfortunately for Amaro et al, the trade deadline is looming and a decision will have to be made before the Phils find out what they’re really made of as they face tougher competition.

With this in mind, my optimism for acquiring Halladay took a nosedive today when I read that Brett Myers is suddenly ready to defy his season-ending injury and pitch in August. With the team winning and memories of last October fresh in people’s minds, this development could produce just enough false optimism to steer the team away from trading for Halladay. But this would be a huge mistake.

The Phillies aren’t going to surpise anyone in the playoffs this year. The Dodgers are a better team than last year. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are a frightful 1-2 punch for the Giants. The American League representative in the World Series is likely New York or Boston, two teams with seasoned Series veterans and top-2 starting pitchers in Sabathia and Burnett and Beckett and Lester. As they’re currently composed (even with a Myers return), the Phillies starters would be at a competitive disadvantage against all these teams (with the possible exception of the Dodgers).

The Phillies look good right now and they’re doing exactly what they should be doing against inferior talent. As much as it’s possible to say this on July 22, they are a lock to make the postseason. But we should keep in mind that’s not good enough around here any more. If the Phillies are serious about winning a World Series this year, the front office needs to remain grounded and not get distracted by the past 3 weeks’ success. This means trading for Roy Halladay (or another proven top-of-the-rotation arm) and positioning themelves for more challenging competition as the final 3 months of the season approach.

…Directly to the Philadelphia Inquirer daily sports poll. Today’s queston is a chip off the old stupidity block and the responses are as ugly as Medusa giving birth to the Elephant Man. Q: “Should the Phillies give up J.A. Happ as part of a trade for Roy Halladay?” A: 50.7% no, 49.3% yes.

In typical homer fashion, the majority of fans who voted “no” are affected by exposure to Happ’s productive season here in Philly. This year Happ is 6-0 with a 2.90 ERA, pitching in the 5 spot. He has beaten Washington 3 times, Toronto once, San Diego once and the Pirates once which, despite his good numbers, means he is yet to win a game against a team over .500 this season. For his career, Happ has appeared in 31 games and is 7-1 with a 3.38 ERA, a WHIP of 1.27 and a strikeout-walk ratio of 1.92 for a team that won the World Series last year. He is off to a very nice start to his career.

This season Roy Halladay is 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA, pitching in the most difficult division in baseball. He has beaten the division-leading Angels twice, the division-leading Tigers once as well as the New York Yankees (other wins include K.C., the White Sox twice (.511), the Orioles, the Twins (.506) and the Indians). For his career, Halladay is 141-61 with an ERA of 3.47, a WHIP of 1.20 and a K/BB ratio of 3.19 and has played his entire career for a team that has never been good enough to make the playoffs.

At 32 years old, Halladay has thrown 43 complete games, appeared in 6 All-Star games and won one Cy Young award. In as much as it’s possible to say this about someone who probably needs a few more seasons (and some playoff appearances, though the lack thereof certainly isn’t his fault) to be considered, Halladay is on the fast-track to the Hall of Fame.

For as nice a start as J.A. Happ has had to his career, retaining him in a scenario where he could be traded for Roy Halladay would be simply foolish. Roy Halladay has been one of the top-5 pitchers in baseball for the past 7 seasons and (as the trajectory of his career stats indicate) has at least 5 seasons left in him. There is a reason they call players like Happ prospects: because their promise is not only to their own clubs’ futures, but in their value as trade pieces as well.

Think about it this way: if the Phillies face the Giants (Lincecum and Cain), the Cardinals (Carpenter and Wainwright), or the Dodgers with Billingsley and Kershaw in the playoffs, which top two Phillies pitchers more effectively oppose these tandems, Hamels and Happ (assuming Manuel is comfortable enough to put Happ in the #2 spot by then) or Hamels and Halladay? What if they make the World Series and face the Red Sox? Is there anyone out there who seriously thinks the Hamels/Happ duo would be better than Halladay/Hamels against Josh Beckett and Jon Lester?

Folks in this town need to start thinking about the prospect of a trade for Halladay for what it is: a chance to put a product on the field that is as good a contender for its second World Series ring as any other team out there. The inclusion of Roy Halladay on this team at the expense of J.A. Happ is no indictment of the latter, merely a recognition of what a more dangerous pitching staff this team would have if Halladay were a part of it.

Jonathan Sanchez came within a Juan Uribe error from tossing a perfect game last night against San Diego. He gave up no walks and struck out 11 (and got some help in the 9th from Aaron Rowand in center field) on his way to baseball’s first no-hitter in 2009. To put his performance in perspective, only 5 other pitchers since 1900 have thrown 11K and 0BB in no-hit bids. Unfortunately for Sanchez, he’s the only member of this group to have not recorded the perfect game (his teammate, Randy Johnson, is on that list).

While Sanchez hasn’t had much of a season otherwise (3-8, 4.69), his no-hitter last night is another feather in San Francisco’s pitching cap. The previous night, reigning N.L. Cy Young winner, Tim Lincecum (10-2, 2.33), took a no-hitter into the 7th inning. Tonight, Matt Cain (10-2, 2.42) will take the mound against the Padres. And on Sunday former Cy Young winner, Barry Zito (5-8, 4.43) will start for the Giants. No stranger to no-hitters (or perfect games, for that matter), 5-time Cy Young winner, Randy Johnson (8-6, 4.81), will reclaim his spot in San Francisco’s rotation once he returns from a sore shoulder.

Sanchez’s no-hitter marked the Giants’ MLB-leading 13th shutout of the season. It should also have marked the moment Ruben Amaro committed to do everything he can (if he hadn’t already done so) to secure Roy Halladay. The Giants pitching staff (especially with Lincecum and Cain at the front end) is built like the Presidio for the playoffs. And despite Joe Blanton’s (6-4, 4.44) strong performance last night against the listless Pirates (which Brad Lidge did everything in his power to ruin), the Phillies starting rotation looks shaky and leaderless.

J.A. Happ is the only starting pitcher with an ERA lower than Barry Zito’s (3.04). He’s also the only starter with a record more than 2 games over .500 (5-0). Cole Hamels, the Phillies’ titulal ace, is 5-5 with an ERA of 4.70 and Jamie Moyer is 8-6 with a 5.99 ERA. In fact, things are in such disarray there isn’t even a 5th starter now that 2-game substitute Rodrigo Lopez is hurt.

If the regular season ended today, the Phillies first-round opponent would be the San Francsico Giants (who have 2 more wins than the Phillies). Even the most dyed-in the wool homer would be hard-pressed to successfully argue a scenario whereby the Phillies pitchers could out-duel the Lincecum and Cain-led Giants staff. The Giants have 3 pitchers with Cy Youngs (7 total) and their front two are a combined 20-4 with sub 2.45 ERAs. There are still a few months until the playoffs so for a team no longer content to win a diminished N.L. East, the Phillies front office is going to need to make some noise before the trade deadline and seriously upgrade the rotation. Otherwise, it’ll be a very short October.

Let me begin the humble expression of one man’s opinion with the following caveat: if the courtship of Pedro Martinez by the Phillies has either the intention of taking away from or the practical impact of diminishing the chances of Roy Halladay coming here, I’m against them signing Pedro. However, the media consensus thus far seems to suggest the opposite. And so I fail to see why signing Pedro is a bad idea.

Yes, Pedro Martinez is past his prime and there’s no question about it. Last year with the Mets, he was 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA, certainly not the stuff of a guy who amassed the 2nd-best winning percentage of any 200-game winner in modern baseball history. Yes, he is 37-years old and he’s been clocked at 91-93 mph on his fastball this week, a significant drop from the 97 mph moving heater that helped him accumulate 3000 strikeouts.

In today’s Daily News, Bob Ford suggests the Pedro signing would be bad for the Phillies, mainly because he represents something the Phillies already have. Specifically, the Phils already have an aging pitcher who occupies a middle spot in the rotation in Jamie Moyer. He quotes Charlie Manuel who said about a potential pitching acquisition “don’t get me what I already got.” But the comparison to Moyer is a poor one when you take some career stats into account.

In 17 Major League seasons, Martinez has a winning percentage of .684, an ERA of 2.91 and a WHIP of 1.051. Moyer’s pitched 23 seasons and has a winning percentage of .571 and an ERA of 4.23 with a 1.325 WHIP. Pedro Martinez has won 3 Cy Young awards. Moyer has never finished in the top-3 in Cy Young voting. In the playoffs, Martinez has a .750 winning percentage, an ERA of of 3.4 and a WHIP of 1.122. For Moyer’s part, he has a .500 playoff winning percentage, an ERA of 4.14 and a 1.137 WHIP. And for as much skeptical talk as there’s been surrounding the aforementioned 2008 record of 5-6, 5.61 for Martinez, Jamie Moyer’s ERA this season is slightly worse at 5.99.

Pedro Martinez is a first-ballot Hall of Famer and Jamie Moyer is not. I don’t put their numbers side-by-side to disparage Moyer, rather simply to demonstrate that if the question is whether the Phillies can benefit from acquiring a number 3-5 pitcher for their rotation, Martinez certainly fits the bill. Pedro probably won’t be good for more than 6 innings in any start but we know that’s exactly what we get from Moyer already (down 2 runs at the time, he left last night’s game after 5 innings pitched, having given up 6 runs).

Again, assuming Pedro’s signing doesn’t adversely affect the Hallady pursuit (or another top-of-the-rotation guy) I can’t see why it isn’t a good idea. In fact, potential savior pitcher aside, I challenge anyone to argue why a Hamels, Martinez, Blanton, Moyer and Happ rotation wouldn’t be better than what they’re currently working with.