It is pleasant to think so, and maybe it will all come true. The Phillies will break tradition and trade away a bit of the future for the present. In the past, they have been unwilling to do so, and often that bright future didn't turn out as well as hoped. This time, though, they will break the eggs in pursuit of the omelet, and the starting pitcher who will fulfill their dreams will be dunked in red pinstripes and pointed toward the mound.

Except he won't.

Whether the Phillies make the playoffs for the second straight season has less to do with the pitching - although it admittedly hasn't been very good - than with the consistency and power production of the offense. That is the way this machine has been built, and that is how it has to run.

As the Phils scooted out of town Sunday, heading for the nine-game road trip that began last night in Oakland, Calif., they were dragging a five-game losing streak because the offense was in a slump, not because the pitching had been any worse than usual.

These same five starters got the team to a 39-26 record and were able to do so because Chase Utley and Pat Burrell carried the load through April despite the absence of Jimmy Rollins, and because Ryan Howard hit enough home runs between strikeouts in May to compensate for Burrell's gradual and expected slide. Howard had 20 RBIs during the first 40 games of the season and has recorded 44 in the 37 games since then.

In the last two weeks, however, as the team lost nine of 12 games, the production gears slowed, particularly Utley's, and the team ground itself into a much lower gear.

Would it be nice to win a 3-2 game sometime or not hold one's breath as the pitching wheel slowly rotates around to Cole Hamels once again? Sure, it would. And that might happen a couple of times on the road trip that takes the Phils through territory that is more pitcher-friendly than Citizens Bank Park.

And, yes, adding a C.C. Sabathia to the rotation would be nice, too, although that is a wildly unrealistic hope. Cy Young Award winners, given their choice of destinations, do not choose the South Philly Slingshot. Middling pitchers looking to establish themselves for their next contract - see Lohse, Kyle - or just looking for a job will take the chance, and maybe it would work out as it did last season with Lohse. For the price of what that pitcher would cost the Phillies right now, either Shane Victorino or Jayson Werth, if logic holds, it would be a significant risk.

Aside from Brett Myers, the Phils have gotten by with their pitching. The team is 1-10 in Myers' last 11 starts, dating to April 27, and 27-14 when someone else, anyone else, is the starter during that span.

Obviously, Myers has tried everything, including the suggestion that he rear back and trust in his fastball more. That philosophy, as applied in his last three starts, has resulted in a total of eight home runs, after he allowed just five homers in the seven starts previous to that. Oops.

This may seem unsupported by the season so far - facts not in evidence, as they say in court - but I think Myers will come out of this and start compiling some wins. It's not as if he can get much worse.

From here, with Adam Eaton and Jamie Moyer having decent stretches, Kyle Kendrick is the biggest concern. He looks to be hitting some sort of wall, and the wall is hitting back. Don't look for Kris Benson to save the day, either. His arm is healthy now, and his fastball is slow, which is an unfortunate combination.

So the obvious answer is to go out and get another pitcher, giving up some offensive and defensive flexibility in the process. Obvious but wrong.

The answer is to get the offense going again. When the big boys are slumping, Charlie Manuel has to use Greg Dobbs, Chris Coste and Werth and stop waiting for the other side of those platoons - Pedro Feliz, Carlos Ruiz and Victorino - to bring up either their averages or their production numbers.

This team is going to win by outslugging the other guys, not by outpitching them. It is a difficult way to play the game, but it is also how the home park dictates it must be played and how this heavy-legged roster defines itself.

It would be nice to push a magic button and remake the team, but that isn't going to happen. Shame on the Phillies if they fool themselves into thinking otherwise.

at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/bobford.