When 46-year-old Jamie Moyer -- a 25-year veteran who currently sports a 5.32 ERA -- leads your ballclub in wins, that usually indicates your team is in fairly dire need of some pitching help. I think the Philadelphia Phillies got the memo.
After agressively pursuing Toronto's Roy Halladay in recent weeks, the World Champion Phillies made noise yesterday by abandoning the Halladay route and opting to go after 2008 AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. Lee, 7-9 with a 3.14 in 22 starts thus far, comes off a 22-3, 2.54 ERA campaign last season with Cleveland.
The Phillies sent Triple-A pitcher Carlos Carrasco, infielder Jason Donald and catcher Lou Marson along with Single-A pitcher Jason Knapp to Cleveland in exchange for Lee and OF Ben Francisco. When asked how he felt about the trade, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said, "We gave them four very good baseball prospects, and that hurts. When you want to acquire talent, you have to give talent, and that was part of the deal here." 
The Phillies, however, are not are not going to dwell on losing quality prospects apt to bolster the team's future. With a 7-game lead in the NL East, it's fair to say the Phillies are all ready taking aim at October. There's no question that Cliff Lee will throw a curve of his own into the NL Pennant race.
Amidst all the commotion, it's 6'6" right-hander Roy Halladay who casts his steady gaze toward the horizon -- his dream of throwing a postseason pitch will likely be delayed yet another year.
Images courtesy of http://blueworkhorse.com/ and loljays.blogspot.com/2008/04/blog-post.html
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