This is beyond STUPID. How do you leave out the Padres when they lead the league in ERA?? Way to go, Morons...

lame

the american league

I think the Cardinals missed a BIG opportunity to have an awesome 4. They apparently mis-read Houston management and Oswalt..shame.

Look at just the top 3 pitchers (not the team E.R.A. you name-calling Padre fans), It's pretty close. St. Louis has the best E.R.A. when comparing the 3 pitchers. The defense-independent ERA is still in there favor. I wonder what would happen if you looked at the last few weeks. Cincinnati's pitchers don't compare to the other 3 teams listed here. In terms of innings pitched (and don't you want a starter to go as far as practical), St.Louis and SF are tied and Phil. just a bit ahead when counting Oswalt. But adding a new high-profile player changes the whole dynamic of a team so who knows what will happen.

Roy Oswalt, as great as he was, better get some run support-plenty of it or he'll be a bust. He's not even close to what he used to be.

Considering he Cardinal's potent offence, it's hard to look past their top three starters.

Bottom line, great pick up for the Phills. I don't care for the Phills, but I do see them winning the WS this year now, In a rematch against the Yanks. Oswalt pitches and wins game 7 against his good friend Petite.....

awesome move by phillies, what the hell were astros thinking,come on 11 million too. They have to be the favorites in NL now. But the Giants and Cards are strong also.

Phillies have some ground to gain. But for now they have the dominant pitching staff. I'd watch the Cardinals though, I think Loshe (sp) is coming back soon, and they have their eye on the Cubs' Lilly with a couple days to go.

This is so lame. Oswalt is not what he used to be and nobody has a better starting three than the Padres and the Giants have a much better starting 3 than the Phillies.

I'm up in the air on this one. I still think it was a big mistake to trade Cliff Lee. From what I hear Oswalt's back is a very big question mark. And I also agree that nobody is going to win if the bats don't stay hot. Moyer, Halliday & Hamels all lost several close games when the Phillies could not buy a run to save their huge salaries. They all should have better records then they have. Halliday should have at least 15 victories, Moyer at least 11 and Hamels 10. The Braves would not even be close if the Phillies if they had stayed away from always going after the first pitch. I am surprised they have woken up and won 8 straight. I hope they win 20 straight but that is highly unlikely. I think it is too soon for them to be peaking. We don't need another melt down in September. I hope they use the 11 million to keep Werth and he should show some loyalty to the Phillies and Charlie who believed in him when everyone else said he was done.

Hey Dave the Padres aren't from the NW there from the West! dUH!!