Put the Vance Worley conundrum on ice.

It's over, frozen into irrelevance with the kind of festive vigor you could throw back in a bar.

He's got to stay.

We're not overreacting to his 7-1 record or 2.02 ERA, though they're worth noting. And gushing over any one glimmer is easy but foolhardy.

You could start with the end, his complete game gem from last night's win over the World Champion Giants.

Hurling nine, three-hit innings with but one mistake—as empty a solo home run as Aaron Rowand has ever hit—crafts a pretty compelling argument. Even if "Big Time Timmy Jim" Lincecum was sniffly and scratched before first pitch.

You could even venture back some, to June 24 and July 15, when 12 collective innings against the A's and Marlins came and went without incident (or earned runs).

Unless of course, you count "Vanimal" hysteria toward either.

But no matter which snapshot grabs your eye most, the collage sparkles with promise that's worth seeing through. It's bought patience for Worley.

For now.

And through July 31, the no-waiver trade deadline. Dangle Worley as trade bait, no more.

"Is Vance Worley a No. 1 or 2 starter? I don't think anybody thinks that," ESPN MLB Insider Jayson Stark admitted to Mike Missanelli of 97.5 The Fanatic. 

"...But he's a very useful guy and a very important guy. Joe Blanton's not coming back. Roy Oswalt has got the back situation, and I'm not sure he comes back next year.

"To me, they're in a position where they cannot afford to trade him."

You wonder how that plays into buyers' plans. Ed Wade reportedly squashed a bid for Hunter Pence that would send "Baby Ace" Jarred Cosart and minor league first baseman Jonathan Singleton to Houston.

Dom Brown seems to be the centerpiece of that deal and one to pluck Carlos Beltran from an "imminent" deal with the Giants.

Whether you pull either trigger is the stuff of another column, but to Beltran and Pence I conditionally say "no" and "yes."

For Brown. Not Worley.

Right now, you need him. Worley is playing bigger than his mildly wimpy 90 MPH fastball, leaning on a midnight-to-noon breaking ball that shatters egos. He's the best option to stretch the Three Dealers to make the greatest four-deep in baseball:

A $40 million trifecta, punctuated by a hunch turned to gold.

So long as Worley doesn't meltdown like his game log's lonesome hiccup, an eight-run blunder in Citi Field May 29, he should follow Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels in the rotation.

Even if that carries into October. Worley's shirtless back won't be scraped by the brick wall he won't be pressed into. There just won't be that pressure.

How many No. 4 starters are worth fearing in baseball (save for Worley, of course)?

How many would appear short series and pivotal moments anyway (including Worley)?

Worley won't pitch in the Wild Card, with Halladay, Lee and Hamels going one-two-three and through whoever they'll face.

Even in a jam, an unexpected Game 4 if one of the Three Dealers stumbles, what back-of-the-rotation card would you take over Worley anyway? Tommy Hanson has sputtered of late.

Kyle Lohse is shelved, and Kyle McClellan's ringing self endorsement is that he doesn't "feel like I went out and pitched terrible for two months."

Worley's proven he's game enough for later junctures. He's begging for a shot at Barry Zito in the NLCS and John Lackey in the World Series. With last night's 7-2 win over San Francisco and one June 29 against Boston that ended 2-1, Worley knows he can beat both.

So let Worley marinade. Wring out that arm for all the stuff it's got. So long as he replicates complete games and shields the bullpen from a possible pelting, that's fine by me.

It's true, time might prove Worley to be less geyser than puddle. Before we rule conclusively, Worley's got to outlast a full MLB calendar and all the adjustments teams will make after having seen him.

Give him the benefit of the doubt, but be mindful that rookies' artificial advantages usually even out.

Just ask J.A. Happ (4-12, 6.12 ERA with Houston) how that leveling treated him.

However deep he is, Worley's a better option than Joe Blanton, hung up with elbow inflammation since May 16. Getting that checked out any day now, which doesn't bode well, whatever the doctor finds.

Worley's even cozier than the feeling Roy Oswalt stirs. The only thing worse than a bulging disc in a pitcher's back is the thought that his commitment is waning.

Can you hinge your World Series chances on either?

Oswalt's value-added was remarkable in 2010, when we went 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA after his trade deadline trek from Houston. And his dedication shined last August 24, when he took up left field to plug holes a five-hour game punched.

But we're seeing a different Oswalt now. One gimping for 1-5 record with a 4.06 in his last eight starts. One dragging through five-inning bouts against Single-A bats.

In Oswalt's only rehab assignment, he couldn't muster more than a 88-90 MPH pace. He's normally good for  93 MPH. Just not May 11, when his fastball looked lifeless and worried Carlos Ruiz.

"[Carlos] Ruiz said Oswalt’s fastball had no life for most of the start. Off by about four mph in general," tweeted Philadelphia Inquirer beat reporter Matt Gelb after the game.

That won't be good enough against the Cardinals, who lead the National League in runs and batting average the last seven days, and per capita Albert Pujolses and Matt Hollidays for the rest of the way.

Won't cut it against the Red Sox or Rangers or Yankees, either, one-two-three in the American League in scoring and the top two in average.

Maybe that changes. Maybe in Oswalt's rehab assignment tonight marks his coronation as healed and enough a must-have to bump Worley back to No. 5.

But until it does, Worley stays.

So too does this rotation, handily the best in baseball.