Dodgers can't let Roy Halladay get away

Mannywood is nice. Bleacher Beach is cool.

The World Series is better.

That's why we're here. Now is the time. If Frank McCourt really wants to do all he can to deliver a championship to the fans of Los Angeles, and to parlay the best record in baseball into the best chance to win in October, he ought to send Ned Colletti shopping and tell him not to come back without Roy Halladay.

Two decades is too long for Dodger Stadium to sit idle during the World Series, too long for the Dodgers to milk the glory of Kirk Gibson. Halladay is the grand prize of the July trading season, arguably the best pitcher in baseball.

"He would make the Dodgers a World Series winner," a high-ranking American League executive said. The executive could not be identified because his team forbids him from publicly commenting on other teams.

The Dodgers would have to pay dearly to get Halladay, as any team should. This is not about quantity, about trading half a dozen scrubs and suspects. This is about quality, about enticing the Toronto Blue Jays to surrender perhaps the best pitcher in franchise history.

The Dodgers ought to start by offering two-time All-Star catcher Russell Martin, a Canadian star for Canada's team.

The Dodgers have made no secret of their interest in Halladay. They had two scouts watching him Thursday, and they had started talking to the Jays even before Toronto General Manager J.P. Ricciardi said publicly last week that he would solicit offers for the six-time All-Star.

Colletti, the Dodgers' general manager, has said since opening day that he hoped to acquire pitching. He said Friday he wants a veteran for the eighth inning and a starter who "can make our rotation definitively better."

In Halladay, you get both, at least on the days he pitches. Halladay has thrown three complete games this season, to the Dodgers' one. He has thrown more complete games than the Dodgers in each of the last three years.

He ranks fourth in the American League with a 2.85 earned-run average. In 12 seasons in Toronto, none of them ending in a playoff appearance, he is 141-69.

Colletti declined to comment on Halladay or any other player, citing baseball's tampering rules.

"I've talked to a lot of clubs, including Toronto," Colletti said.

For the Dodgers, this is about winning now, so they can't lose three players from their major league roster to get one.