Roy Halladay who?

This is why the Texas Rangers were in no rush to trade for Roy Halladay. I know he's a great pitcher and all, but giving up Derek Holland and two other elite prospects to get him would have been pure folly. The kid may only be 12 starts into his major league career, and he may still be sporting a not-so-hot 5.04 ERA, but here are his pitching lines from two of his last three starts:

9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (96 pitches!)

8.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K

Today's game, a road game against baseball's highest scoring team and the team currently dueling with the Rangers for first in the AL West (the Angels), is about as money as a rookie can get. He'll continue to be inconsistent, as rookies are wont to do, but I'd rather this guy be inconsistent for my team than the Blue Jays.

Oh, and Neftali Feliz---the stud rookie recently called up who was also a rumored piece in any possible Halladay deal---yeah, he struck out the first four batters he faced and now has 8 K's in his first 4.1 IP, giving up just one hit in those first three appearances out of the bullpen. He's been clocked as high as 101 MPH during those games. Good god, this team finally has some genuine pitching talent. Even better, the Rangers seem to know it.