I almost wonder if Melvin could call both the Ricciardi and Shapiro and offer up a package of Escobar, Lawrie, and a couple lower level prospects for either Lee or Halladay, and see who bites first. Maybe put out that he's talking with a couple other GMs for other top tier pitchers as well. Take the ball and put it in their court, and see which GM blinks first. With the trade deadline only a week away, it can't really hurt to get aggressive at this point. Also, SoCal makes a good point about pitchers "keeping the team in the game". It seems like when the offense sees they are in the hole early, they tend to press and try too hard at the plate. They seem to have improved on that a bit lately (like in Wednesday's game, even though they ultimately lost), but overall it has to be tough when you see you are down by five or six runs after only four innings or so.