Pepper

The Phils need Roy Halladay but not at any cost. Rumors that the Blue Jays want J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabeck and Dominic Brown surprised me only insofar as they didn't ask for every other player's first born as well. A deal with these particulars is not happening.

Of course Ruben Amaro need only look across the field at the team currently occupying the visitor's dugout to realize some teams are willing to go all in now. The Cardinals believe Matt Holiday and Mark DeRosa will put them over the top so they might be willing to rent them for the short hall, but they price they paid is not as steep as the one the Blue Jays are demanding of the Phillies.

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Lost in the euphoria of the sixth inning explosion by the Phillies yesterday afternoon was yet another bonehead play by Jayson Werth, who failed to advance on a clear sacrifice fly ball when he didn't get back to second base soon enough to take off. The Cards led at that point 4-3 and there was one out. Had Werth made it to third, which he could have easily done had he gone back to the bag as soon as the ball was hit, he would have been in a position to score on a ball in the dirt let alone a base hit. Jimmy Rollins may have made the point moot, but it was still lousy baseball on Werth's part. He may hit home runs in bunches and track down the occasional ball in the alley to his right, but he makes enough poor decisions to neutralize some of his assets. In the end Werth is plain dumb.

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Speaking of Jimmy, he's officially back. Meanwhile, quietly and steadily the Peoples' choice, Shane Victorino, is having another stellar year. Victorino's 4-4 day against the Cardinals raised his average to .316. Last year, you may recall, he led all Phillies regulars in batting average. Thankfully, there are always a few Rule 5 phenomenons to keep baseball insiders honest.