…is not Raul Ibañez.

No, it is not the man who has replaced a true Phillie legend–both on and off the field–in a fashion that has exceeded even the most optimistic of our wildest dreams.

Nor is it Uncle Charlie, who despite more adoration and acclaim than at any point in his career, has done absolutely nothing different than before. It’s just that we’re finally paying attention.

And it is not the reinvigoration of the immensely talented and consistently motivated Jimmy Rollins, whose ability to swing the stick has finally begun to catch up to the wizardry he possesses in his glove.

As a matter of fact, in order to understand the key to the Phillies’ success during this winning streak which has finally jump-started their season, you have to look no further than a simple personnel realignment.

Welcome to the starting rotation J.A. Happ! How would you feel about being best starter on the World Phuckin’ Champs while Cole Hamels attempts to regain his World Series MVP form? In your first full season in the bigs, by the way. And you’ll take the mound in new Yankee Stadium on a nationally televised FOX game to begin this assignment. Thanks.

Welcome to the ‘Pen Chan Ho! How about this. Be as GOOD in relief as you were HORRIBLE in the rotation. And simultaneously become my favorite character on a weekly HD-sports television show that follows the pulse of the summer in this city right now? Good talk. See ya out there.

Yes, the switch that should have occurred out of Spring Training, if it were not for a very public promise by Ruben Amaro, finally took place on May 19th.  Since that change, the team has gone 33-22, including the current doozy of a 10-game streak. Take nothing away from Joe Blanton, whose performance in the past ten starts has been stellar. But the decision to abandon the ‘Please wake the entire nation of South Korea at 3am every 5th day’ plan and bring in J.A. Happ was the catalyst. On a tangential note, does anyone remember the point when his name stopped being Jay. A.? I’m convinced it was only changed because Sarge mispronounced it and the rest of the guys rolled with it.

How big a deal was the move? Just look at the numbers.

As a starter, Happ is 5-0 with a 2.74 ERA. He’s allowed 47 hits in 51 2/3 innings, with only 10 gopherballs in the rotation, best of the staff. Brett Myers had allowed SEVENTEEN bombs–Seventeen? yikes–in only ten starts. To sum up how successful Happ has been as a member of the rotation consider this. Not only is his name being prominently mentioned as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate, but he’s apparently being discussed as a centerpiece of a Roy Halladay-to-Philly deal…if the Phils refuse to include Kyle Drabek. Oh. And wait. There is a LEGITIMATE and strong sentiment amongst a growing core of Phillies fans that they don’t want the organization to include him in a trade. For Roy Halladay. I repeat. The Philadelphia Phillies could hypothetically refuse to make a deal with Toronto to acquire Roy Halladay because they didn’t want to include J.A. Happ and a large section of the fan base would be in agreement with this decision. That this is even a discussion is a testament to how good Happ has been.

As a reliever, Park has an ERA of just north of 2.00, including a 1.84 ERA in his last 24 2/3 innings. This is the same pitcher–albeit with a much better goatee–who gave up twenty runs in his first twenty innings as a starter. It’s a truly astounding turnaround for a player most people seemed to be rooting against from Day 1 in Philly. And he’s not just scraping by either. Consider this. In his 21 relief appearances, he’s registered an impressive TWELVE multi-strikeout games, including a stretch of ten such outings in twelve appearances . He’s been a tremendous asset to Uncle Charlie and R$ch Dubee for his pure filth and his ability to go multiple innings, prompting me to wonder: Wouldn’t a Chan Ho Park ‘5-Hour Energy’ commercial be the greatest thirty seconds in television history? Watching him do long toss and get fatigued only to have Scott Eyre’s beard grab him a small bottle full of B-Vitamins for Energy and Amino Acids, for FOCUS! Instant revitalization. There would be no trip to the fridge on that one.

Wow we sucked in April, huh Chopper?

Most importantly, Happ’s emergence as a top-of-the-rotation presence has lifted the early-season pressure off of Blanton, slotted Jamie Moyer a spot back and allowed Hamels’ struggles to go largely undissected, which one can argue convincingly that Cole deserves after the load he carried last year. Concurrently, Park’s success has eased the burden on the back end of the bullpen. His efforts to add to Shane Victorino’s All-Star vote totals should also not go unnoticed.

To field a World Champion baseball team, you need contributions from everyone. See Jenkins, Geoff (2008): Leadoff double in World Series Game 5, Part II. The most significant contribution to the 2009 Phillies is yet to be determined. It could be Chase and J-Roll connecting on a once-in-a-season type of double play to win a ball game. It could be Brad Lidge regaining his Lights Out form and harnessing his ‘Eric Hinske, thanks for coming out’ pitch. Eric Bruntlett could shave his beard. Or release himself.  Doc Halladay could be our CC-to-the-Brewers all over again. Except without any pesky Hawaiian, Little-League helmet wearing grand slams.

But if we are able to look back on this season with the same sentiment as the still-fresh-in-our-minds feeling we had last Fall, the event that could have very well sparked the run that has us dancing again was nothing more than a simple switch of departments for a couple of crucial employees.

MMMM...Tastes Like Weekend

For those of you who might have missed out on some of the nuggets in the world of sports from this past weekend, here’s what had us talking…

PEDRO MARTINEZ: I have to be honest that when I initially heard of the Phils interest in Pedro, I was really hoping for a short courtship. You know, like Ruben Amaro takes Pedro to a lovely, intimate Italian cucina and they share red wine and great conversation, but when it comes to the the after-dinner portion of the evening, Amaro declines coming upstairs for coffee…but politely takes Pedro’s number so as not to look like a jerkoff.

However, the more I think about the signing, the more I like it. Jim Salisbury has a really interesting read in today’s Inquirer that outlines the story behind Pedro’s addition to the squad. Of the reasons presented in the article–decreased price tag, Martinez’s fitness level/dedication to workouts, simple necessity–two points jump out to me.

1) His fastball was clocked between 86-91 consistently at his workouts for Phillies staff. While his breaking stuff remains superb (one anonymous Phillie described Martinez as still having ‘funkiness and deception to his pitches’ the last couple of years), you can’t keep hitters off your slow stuff if you can’t keep them honest with your fastball. For anyone who doubts this, witness Jamie Moyer at age 87 still winning baseball games. Ryan Madson’s emergence as a lights outs, ‘Bridge to Lidge’ last season was a direct result of added 3-4 MPH to his fastball. If Martinez can regularly hit 88-91, he still has a shot of being effective

2) Pure motivation. One thing we can’t doubt about Martinez is his competitive spirit and will to win. Having already backed off his (slightly ridiculous) contract demands to sign for a cut-rate $1 million, his incentive to join the Phils is clearly to get another ring. And for those who are concerned about Martinez’s reputation for being a clubhouse diva, is it not clear by now that Charlie Manuel runs a pretty organized group of professionals? Martinez is in the ideal environment, with little to no pressure and lowered expectations that have literally been stated for the world to hear.

I’m not saying Martinez is the key to the continued success of the pitching staff (a guy named Halladay might have a role in that), but stranger things have happened then a 37-year old Mets castoff leading the Phils to a repeat.

SOCCER SATURDAY: I’ve been a big fan of the English Premier League now for a quite a number of years, so I was interested to see in how Chelsea looked in their preseason friendly with MLS side Seattle. While the transfer window has proven to be a bit more quiet than usual for the London outfit, they still boast a roster full of International stars and the 2-0 scoreline in their favor certainly won’t surprise many outside of Seattle. However, what I was impressed with was the atmosphere at Qwest Field and the show put on by the fans of the MLS Expansion team. From the get-go, a full house of nearly 65,000 fans made the environment feel decidely un-exhibition like, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by the Chelsea players.

“It was probably the best pre-season atmosphere I’ve ever played in, for sure,” [Chelsea midfielder Frank] Lampard said, “The Seattle team tried to play good football, created a few chances and were unlucky not to score really.”

Clearly starved for a sporting success at any level–How ’bout the OKC Thunder?–the city of Seattle did an amazing job in furthering the belief amongst soccer fans in this country that perhaps the sport is in fact growing in popularity and that the surprising success of the US National Men’s team at the Confederations Cup will have a more lasting effect. Speaking of the USMNT, the team won a somewhat uneven performance in Philadelphia over Panama at the Gold Cup. The atmosphere was very different inside the Linc in comparison to Seattle, but that shouldn’t be an indictment of the support for the game in the tri-state region. I’ll wait until I haul down to Chester for the first time to see the Union before making any rash judgments.

Holy shit. No rain?

OLD MAN CAN STILL SWING THE WRENCHES…FOR 71 HOLES EDITION: Golf is hard. Tom Watson is old. So naturally he almost wins the British Open Championship. No matter your allegiances, you couldn’t help but feel like you just got punched in the gut watching him blow the 8-footer at the last before self-destructing in the playoff. Hard not to like Stewart Cink (cliched praises to Jesus post-win aside) but it would have been nice for the AARP crowd to get one in the books.

QUICK HITS

• When did Andriy Schevchenko become Andriy Voronin? Although this picture is better. Life in the Ukraine looks incredibly comfortable
• Don’t you love it when announcers heap love on David Wright’s game? Sure I can’t hate on him because the guy apparently ‘does everything’…Everything that is, but win baseball games.
• What a great bit of luck for the Phillies to get rained out of a Josh Johnson start…and that once the game was called it actually STOPPED raining! Karma 1, Marlins 0.
• Did anyone see the contest Southwest Airlines is running to ‘Play Ball with Nolan Ryan?’ Sounds great and all, but do you really want to step in the batter’s box against the dude responsible for the single most hilarious ass-whooping of all time? Must. Find. Way. To. Purchase. And. Frame. That. Photograph.
• Lost in the Mets actually winning a game yesterday was the fact that the ultra-talented yet ultra-idiotic Yunel Escobar found another way to make Bobby Cox want to eject himself from a baseball game. Escobar–who has been the most consistent bat in the Braves lineup–is in serious danger of getting a new zip code after missing a sign for a hit-and-run that resulted in teammate Diory Hernandez getting thrown out by a mile at second base. Escobar’s priceless response (which by the way, was translated from Spanish by Mike Gonzalez as apparently Escobar spends too much time frosting his tips to learn English) to the line of questioning? “Talk to me when I get three hits.”
• I leave you with the pure hilarity is this video. Cowboys haters, enjoy.

LET’S GO PHILS!

I wrote a short blurb on the Allen Iverson situation a few days back but wanted to share an interesting article by Adam Stanco over at NaismithLives.com. It’s sad to think that Iverson’s lack of interest (until the recent courtship by the Clippers…really?) could be largely self-inflicted by the posturing and pouting of the past season in Detroit. Sure he’s had plenty of well-documented troubles in his career, but I think for the majority of 76ers fans–and Philadelphians in general–that it would be a shame for such a talented and intriguing superstar to go out on someone else’s terms.

Check out the full article here. It’s a really solid read.

OTHER PHILLY SPORTS NEWS AND NOTES

• The Flyers make a signing that could change the balance of power in the East. Not sure how far East though
• I don’t know if I speak for anyone else, but I really couldn’t give two shits about the All-Star game. The fact that Bud Selig decided to have the game determine homefield advantage in the World Series makes me feel a bit guilty for not caring, but I lived with a Jewish mother for 18 years. Guilt alone won’t get it done.
• The more this drags on, the more I become convinced the Phillies need to make the Roy Halladay deal at nearly any cost.
• Welcome to Philly, Pedro Martinez. You have my full support until you give up 8 runs to the Nationals.

As passionate sports fans, we often find that our emotional well-being is just a little too tightly connected to the fate that befalls our favorite team(s). When they win, food tastes better. The sky is bluer. Beer tastes colder.

When they lose, the opposite takes effect. The food never satisfies your hunger. It rains all the time. The beer is skunked.

While rational thinking human beings should theoretically allow themselves to place sporting events in context–in other words, limiting the highs and mitigating the lows–being a sports fan grants us the rare opportunity to be irrational, largely without repercussions (though don’t tell this to your family and close friends). In what other context is it OK not to shave for two months because Ron Hextall has a playoff save percentage of .945? Could we really refuse to sit at a certain cubicle at work because the Eagles lose every time we sit there on a Friday before a game? Have you ever arrived at the parking lot of a family function 6 hours in advance with your chest painted and proceeded to slug a dozen cans of PBR?

For those of us who had yet to witness a championship, getting our first taste of winning was a justification of sorts for the patience we’ve shown over the years in our town and our teams. It was a wonderful reinvigoration to a fanbase grown tired of failed promises and unrealized expectations. The Phillies World Series title was nothing short of a cathartic experience, cleansing all the negative energy that had surrounded the team and Philadelphia sports in the 25 years since we could claim a championship and make it our own.

What’s interesting is that the Phillies were the team to break the drought.

The Phils’ historical futility has been well documented. Between 1994 and 2006 they had zero playoff appearances and finished on average, 19.5 games out of first place each season. Many summers the mere thought of playing .500 baseball–or god forbid contending for the postseason!–would have sent Phils fans into a tizzy.

And yet across the street lies the home of the “Gold Standard”. Over that same stretch, the Eagles reached the playoffs eight times, including four trips to the NFC championship game and one Super Bowl appearance. Though they failed to win the big one, it’s fair to say the team was consistently in the running year in and year out for a very extended period of time.

This got me wondering.

Would you rather have your favorite team win one championship in a 10-year period otherwise filled with losing or spend the same period consistently winning everything but the last game of the season?

My assumption would be that Philadelphians would lean toward the former considering the recent developments in our sporting culture. However, there are many variables to the question that make it far from cut and dry. It’s easy to look back at the Phillies’ World Series victory and conveniently forget the mountain of (painful) losses endured on the way to the top. Conversely, it’s easy to be angry with the Eagles for losing four of five trips to the NFC Championship game while ignoring the fact that more Sundays than not they came out on top, often in convincing fashion.

In a nutshell, hindsight is 20-20. But if you were given the choice and knew full well in advance of the above scenario, would you still choose one good year in a decade of futility? I’m curious to know what the Philly Phaithful thinks…please leave comments below!

P.S. We’ve extended the “Because it’s still better than Jose Mesa” sale–20% off all Brad Lidge products–through the all-star break. Pick up a shirt and look good when he turns it around for good!

Blew away hitters in the 90's

OR

Blew tons of coke in the 80's

Phillies fans…I know our starting pitching has been highly mediocre–much like the above jheri curls–for the majority of the season. And while Rodrigo Lopez was excellent on Friday, there’s not much of a chance he solves our problems long term.

Which brings us to Pedro. As I type this, Charley Kerfeld is in the DR watching Pedro throw a simulated game, hopefully for our sake on a Wii. Timmy Kurkjian mentioned on SportsCenter this morning that scouts were raving about Pedro’s stuff at the World Baseball Classic. And while a very hittable 87-MPH fastball doesn’t exactly strike fear into the eyes of Major League hitters, one could argue our competition in the NL East doesn’t exactly strike fear into the eyes of a Major League pitcher. Especially one who thinks he is better than he is.

SO…Phillies fans…let your voice be heard. Pedro Martinez in Philly. Yay or Nay?

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This must be unfamiliar territory for Allen Iverson.

The diminutive, veteran point guard not only finds himself without a home, but without any real suitors for his unique talent. To be clear, it’s not a stretch to say that AI’s value has begun to take a precipitous decline as he ages not-so-gracefully. His run-ins with authority figures have been well documented and despite his maturation over the years, there is still league-wide hesitancy about his ability to mesh with those in his locker room or at the craps table.

Yet despite the inherent risks in adding a player with his baggage, Iverson is still a prominent personality the a league and he can still bring fans to fill seats. While it’s apparent a Philadelphia reunion isn’t in the cards (nor would it make sense), it’s hard to envision Iverson not latching on somewhere before the season kicks off in the fall.

With that being said, PhillyPhaithful and the Phaithful Forum wanted to bring you back to the good old days when Iverson was (not) practicing with the 76ers, Dikembe Mutumbo was finger-wagging at the Wachovia Center (and creating hilarious soundbites) and Pat Croce was part motivator, part leader, all goatee.

Check out our tribute video to Allen Iverson here

PHILLY SPORTS QUICK HITS

• Chris Pronger was introduced today as the newest member of the Orange and Black and made it clear that he’s open to sign an extension that would see him end his career in Philly. In a sign of things to come, Pronger also cross-checked at least four members of the media in the face
• The Phillies have engaged in internal conversations about bringing Pedro Martinez into the fold. Apparently these conversations were serious enough to warrant sending a scout to watch Pedro in the DR. While this might not appeal to the Philly Phaithful, it’s also not near a given that Pedro will be donning a Phils cap anytime soon.
• It’s from Saturday, but still a nice little recap of the long road taken by Rodrigo Lopez to get back to the majors.

…with the addition of the best hockey nose Philly has seen since Roddy Brind’Amour.

Despite the signings of Ian Laperriere and the pride of Woonsocket, Rhode Island Brian Boucher, Flyers fans will focus (and rightfully so) on the end of Mike Knuble’s tenure in the Orange and Black. As our first new face of the post-lockout team, Knuble brought consistency on and off the ice and was well respected by his teammates and fans alike. One of the more thoughtful interviews in the sport, it’s hard not to respect Knuble’s role and the attributes he brought.

But despite all the positives, hockey is a business just like any other sport. Plain and simple. And when the Flyers added Chris Pronger, you knew someones salary was coming off the books. Seeing the Flyers cap management last season was like watching Lindsay Lohan from afar. At times both teetering perilously close to disaster and giving hope of emerging unscathed, when the dam broke, it broke big time.  Having to trade Scottie Upshall and a 2nd round pick for Dan Carcillo (still makes you cringe just saying it out loud) was the hockey equivalent of watching Lohan sneak into the bathroom, emerge wiping her nose, hop into a car and run over a paparazzo. For all the good that Paul Holmgren has done to assemble this team–and he’s done a WONDERFUL job considering where we were just two full seasons ago–his financial acumen left something to be desired and that deal was a microcosm of our cap shortcomings last season. Considering the haircut that dude has, it’s a wonder he’s able to talk to GM’s coherently without them laughing in his face. That’s a doo you can set your watch to.

So Knuble was a cap casualty. And because it’s hard not to love Mike Knuble (the game winner in double OT against Washington in 2008 was the high-point of his tenure in my opinion, thoughts?), the loss stings a bit more. But let’s analyze what we really lost in #22.

PROS: Willingness to go to net and sacrifice body, selfless team-first player, doesn’t miss games, good for 20+ goals

CONS: Turns 37 this Saturday, took more mindless lazy penalties than anyone else on the team besides Hartnell–who at least makes up for it by being consistently hilarious–has absorbed a beating in front of net for many years and could miss time in the future, would cost near $3 million a year over 2 years.

By letting Knuble walk, Holmgren sold high so to speak, without really selling anything if you get my drift. This is an open invitation to one James van Riemsdyk to step up his game and make the team out of camp. Additionally, it almost ensures Claude Giroux a top-6 forward position which is something he is undoubtedly ready for and something we had trouble giving him regularly last season with a glut of forwards in front of him on the depth chart.

While he’ll never be confused for Alex Ovechkin, Laperriere brings a ton of positive attributes to this team.

• Absolutely HATES losing, and he’s done an awful lot of it playing with Colorado and Los Angeles. When things went bad for the team last year, nobody in the locker room was able to stem the tide. I love Richie, but when you’re getting waxed by the Maple Leafs in April in games you need to win, you don’t act as if it’s not a big deal. Light a fire under someones ass. Lappy will do that
• Plays physical but not stupid. How many times did the Flyers take a stupid penalty trying to make a play when a solid body check would have done the trick? This guy knows the rules and is a pest to play against
• He is an excellent penalty killer. Our stars spent far too much time on the kill last year, draining their energy unnecessarily. Part of this is the team cutting down on stupid penalties, but it’s also having a good roster of penalty killers.
• Watch this video

It’s also important to note that the signing of Laperriere can not be viewed as the direct replacement for Knuble. As is the case with any offseason, you need to view the body of work in its entirety before passing judgment. Like when you see this isolated, you probably think ’skank’. But when you know who it’s on, you probably think, ’skank I’d like to take out to a nice seafood dinner and never call again’.

On the whole, the Flyers have done what all successful teams do: build out from the goal. They’ve added a goalie in Ray Emery who, when not fighting his teammates or his trainer (not his fault?), has taken an otherwise average Senators team to the Stanley Cup Finals (go ahead, tell me they had anyone besides the Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson line). They’ve added a no-nonsense, first ballot Hall of Fame defenseman who makes everyone better in Chris Pronger. And they brought back BOOOOOOSH, who is as popular as Knuble.

And at the end of the day, it’s just another guy who can punch this hoser in the face.

…do you know where your pitching is?

Frankly, the statistics are nauseating. A team ERA of 4.80, ranked 15th of 16 teams in the NL, ahead of only a comically bad Nationals staff–a team run so poorly it wouldn’t half surprise you to see them go the open tryout route. Opponents are batting .274 against Fightin’s pitching, again 15th out of 16 NL squads. Perhaps most embarrassing is the ungodly number of home runs allowed by the Phils staff, 107 round-trippers in only 73 games, a number that hurts even more when you consider the next closest total is Milwaukee (In fact, pronounced ‘mill-e-wah-que’ which is Algonquin for ‘the good land’) with 92. Even the Houston Astros, who currently employ stalwarts Russ Ortiz–yep, that Russ Ortiz–Mike Hampton and Geoff Geary have only given up 91 playing half of their games in the field formerly known as Enron.

Due almost entirely to unparalleled ineptness from our closest rivals, the Phillies have lost 11 of 15 yet have somehow managed to hold onto a 1.5 game lead in the NL East. Despite their foes capitulating on a near-nightly basis, the pitching situation is undoubtedly approaching a breaking point. With Jamie Moyer looking more and more like Harris from Major League–seriously, can’t you see him in the locker room teaching young Tony Bastard the ins and outs of applying Crisco for some extra break on his slow stuff?–no Brett Myers and no 5th starter for the foreseable future, Ruben Amaro has his work cut out for him.

Since the advent of the Wild Card, teams generally stay ‘buyers’ until later in the summer, hoping to catch fire and make a run into the playoffs (see Rockies, Colorado circa 2007). While this limits the options available to Amaro, he has a wealth of chips at his disposal and the support of a Philadelphia fan base still not sure what to make of a winning team. Do we boo now? How bout now? I want a Schmitter. Honestly, very few of the widely discussed ‘available’ names are appealing so with the goal of keeping things interesting, we’ve come up with a list of pitchers we would love to see in World Champion Red before the month is out, and what we think it would take to get them. Feel free to weigh in with your feedback.

Roy Halladay

WHY HE FITS: Are you serious? That’s like asking why the cheesesteak is delicious. The dude is a horse, he’s not afraid of facial hair and he makes life easy on the bullpen by averaging 14 innings per start. If Field of Dreams did a remake in 40 years, my money is on Roy “Doc” Halladay walking out of the cornfield and playing catch with Shia LaBeouf. Would you bet against that? By the way, I hate you Shia LaBeouf.

WHAT IT WOULD COST: Well, let’s start with Jayson Werth and/or Shane Victorino, throw in Kyle Drabek and Lou Marson and we can talk. He’s signed through 2010 at the very reasonable cost of $15.75 million. Reasonable if we add back those few rows of seats in left field. I’m sure he’d be down.

LIKELIHOOD (1-5 Gillicks, with 5 Gillicks mean the trade is highly probable): I’d give it 2 Gillicks, primarily because taking a peak at the Jays upcoming schedule (YIKES, turn to the 2nd half too) shows the rough road they have ahead. A prolonged losing streak doesn’t necessitate a deal because the public in Toronto is likely more concerned about the Leafs offseason moves than the Jays on-season, but it can’t be ignored when weighing the factors of a possible deal. That and the cost might be prohibitive for Amaro to make.

Aaron Harang

WHY HE FITS: Look at the guy. Can you imagine the damage he and Matt Stairs could do to a keg post-game? Also, if Joe Blanton is an innings-eater, Harang is Kirstie Alley. A lot of people jumped off his train after a rough 2008 campaign (6-17, 4.79 ERA) but he has rebounded nicely in ‘09 and has posted sub-4 ERA’s in three of the past four seasons. Also he throws righthanded, thereby keeping the rotation more evenly balanced.

WHAT IT WOULD COST: One would assume the Reds would want another young arm to compliment their impressive stable of up-and-coming pitchers (Volquez, Cueto, Bailey if he cuts his hair), so the conversation would likely start with Drabek, but could include Carlos Carrasco, Joe Savery or this dude who came out of the blue in yesterday’s paper. With a manageable $12.5 million number in 2010 and a club option (with $2 million buyout) for 2011, the risk would be minimal and the upside tangible.

LIKELIHOOD:  3 Gillicks. Without any knowledge whatsoever of the club’s interest in Harang, he would fit the mold of an established starter who might come just a bit cheaper than a more well-known name, a la Roy Oswalt. Aside from that, it’s pure speculation.

MATT CAIN

WHY HE FITS: A young flamethrower with an incredibly high-ceiling, every Major League team wants a Matt Cain. A Hamels-Cain combination would rank as one of the top 1-2 punches in the league and give the Phillies a dynamic lefty-righty at the head of the rotation. He is also controlled contractually thru 2011 as part of a 4-year, $9 million deal he signed in 2007. Plus, look at that grip. Trademark that 2-seamer, she’s a beaut!

WHAT IT WOULD COST: OK Phils fans. Hear me out on this one. The Giants are in DIRE need of bats. When Aaron Rowand/Bengie Molina are your 3-4 hitters for the better part of two seasons, you have clear issues. The Giants have an incredibly deep farm system, with impact prospects at a number of positions. And since Tim Lincecum already has a Cy Young but needs a contract and Barry Zito is making an obscene amount of loot for surfing and playing accoustic guitar, one would surmise that Cain could be expendable for the right package. While the following deal wouldn’t likely be feasible until the conclusion  of the 2009 season, isn’t it intriguing?

What if the Phillies were to offer Bay Area native Jimmy Rollins (he of the .204 batting average but gregarious personality) along with a couple of top prospects for Cain? Would San Francisco bite, knowing the difficulty to be able to sign two young pitchers? Intriguing.

LIKELIHOOD: 2 Gillicks. While I can’t fathom trading J-Roll midseason, as if it were even possible the way he’s playing, a veteran leader like Rollins would be a wonderful addition to an up-and-coming Giants team. And Cain is filthy. So even though it’s not likely to happen, a man can dream, no?

And hey, at the end of the day, isn’t ANYTHING better than this? We like whaaaaaa?