Paul Hagen: Lee is quite a 'consolation' prize for Phillies

SEATTLE - Once word began to circulate that Roy Halladay might be available in a trade, two thoroughly predictable phenomena were set into motion.

The first was that Halladay began being glorified and deified, praised and exalted, lauded and extolled as the best pitcher on Earth and several neighboring planets. Any team lucky enough to get him, the assumption went, could begin selling World Series tickets and designing their championship rings. Somebody thought they recalled him pitching three straight no-hitters with his right hand in a cast, then flying the team plane home afterward.

The second was that any team that made a grab at Halladay and ended up with anybody else would inevitably be viewed by its disappointed fan base as having somehow come up short, to have settled for warmed-up leftovers.

Harrumph . . .

There's no argument here that Halladay, who took the loss while allowing three runs on a season-high 11 hits in his seven innings against the Seattle Mariners yesterday at Safeco Field, was the pick of the trade-deadline litter this season. As much as any pitcher can be viewed as a sure thing - and every one of them is always an elbow twinge or a shoulder ache away from a visit to the surgeon - he is the real deal.

At the same time, Cliff Lee shouldn't be viewed as some sort of booby prize. The news that the Phillies acquired the Indians lefthander, plus righthanded-hitting outfielder Ben Francisco, for Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Donald and Jason Knapp, is better than that.

The difference between the two isn't enough to drive a tractor-trailer through.

A compact, or even a midsize maybe. But not a big rig.

On July 21, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Lee pitched a complete game to beat the Blue Jays, allowing a single run in the process.

Halladay has been a dominant pitcher for several seasons now and is having another terrific season. Don't forget, though, he didn't win the American League Cy Young Award last season. Lee did.

"For the last 2 years, Cliff Lee has been as good as any pitcher in baseball," testified Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen. "We're partial to Doc [Halladay] around here because we play behind him every time he pitches. But Lee is really good, too."