Phillies and Dodgers clash this weekend as the NL's top two ball clubs

Embed from Getty Images

Dodger Stadium hosts top two teams in the NL this weekend

The Los Angeles Dodgers (38-19) are the two-time defending National League champions and have captured six consecutive NL West Division crowns. They are once again riding high atop the division as we enter the month of June.

This weekend at Dodger Stadium, these two teams will meet for the first of two times this season. They will meet again in a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park just after the MLB All-Star Game in mid-July. The Phillies and Dodgers are the top two teams in the National League to this point in the season, but they have reached that status in very different manners.

The Phillies have been inconsistent in nearly every facet of the game statistically. They are out-performing those stats, fashioning their winning record and frustrating their fans by looking awful in one game and then like world-beaters in the other two games pf most every series.

Meanwhile out in LA-LA Land, the Dodgers have been truly dominating. Offensively, they lead the league in runs scored, OPS and walks, are third in home runs, and are second in stolen-base percentage.

On the mound, Dodgers pitchers have the lowest cumulative ERA in the NL. They lead the league in batting average against, Quality Starts, and OPS against while allowing the fewest walks in the league. The club is also among the more solid defensive units in the league.

The Phillies have gone 20-11 over the last month, and have won nine of their last 13 despite dropping the series finale to Saint Louis on Thursday. During what is arguably the toughest 23-game portion of their 2019 regular season schedule, the Phillies are now 10-7. That stretch comes to an end with this west coast trip to Los Angeles and San Diego over the next six days.

This will be a major test for the Phillies, a chance to measure themselves against the very best in the National League on the road. Even winning one of three games this weekend could be considered a victory. But the Phillies want more than that. They have taken and held first place by winning series, and that will be the goal once again.

There is a tremendous history between these two clubs. The Dodgers defeated the Phillies in the 1977 and 1978 National League Championship Series, the first of those including what has become known as “Black Friday” in Phillies lore, one of the toughest defeats in team history. The Phillies responded by dumping the Dodgers in the 2008 and 2009 NLCS.

Red October: Justin Turner beats the champs

Turner's walkoff homer wins NLCS Game Two for Dodgers

The drama of October postseason baseball continued to unfold in a big way in Sunday night's Game Two of the 2017 National League Championship Series.

The host Los Angeles Dodgers held a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS. Now they were battling the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs into the bottom of the 9th inning with the two teams tied at 1-1 on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard.

There is an old sports axiom that states "if you want to be the champ, you gotta beat the champ." That is exactly the task in front of this latest version of what has become a perennially disappointing Dodgers ball club.

The Dodgers have not won a World Series championship in nearly 30 years. Not since a gimpy Kirk Gibson caused Vin Scully to disbelieve what he had just seen in October of 1988. Not since Orel Hershiser was acing it on the mound, rather then commenting on aces from the broadcast booth.

Ten times since, Los Angeles has advanced to the postseason. Ten times they and their fans have gone home disappointed. Six times the team didn't even advance past the NLDS.

The disappointment has been particularly difficult in recent years. The Dodgers have now captured five consecutive NL West crowns. But their regular season successes have ended in postseason failure each of the previous four years.

The Dodgers organization and fans wear those recent years and even decades of disillusionment like an albatross around their collective necks.

Anthony Rendon deserves NL All-Star 'Final Vote'

Nat's Anthony Rendon deserves NL All-Star Final Vote 

The Washington Nationals have led the National League East Division for all but three days this season. 

To the victors traditionally go the spoils, and one of those spoils is that a number of Nationals players have been selected for the NL All-Star team.

In fan voting, three Washington stars have already been selected. Outfielder Bryce Harper will start in the NL outfield. The 24-year old superstar finished with over 3.6 million votes, more than any other player in Major League Baseball.

Second baseman Daniel Murphy will be appearing in his second consecutive All-Star Game. It will be the third career all-star honors for last year’s NL MVP runner-up.

First baseman Ryan Zimmerman is enjoying the best season of his 13-year big league career. He was voted to his second All-Star team. His only previous honor came way back in the 2009.

The Nationals also had two pitchers named to the NL roster, starters Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg.

Even with that fine representation, there is still one more member of the Nationals lineup also deserving of the honor, third baseman Anthony Rendon.

Rendon has been named as one of five candidates for what MLB promotes as a “Final Vote” process. Fans can go online and vote for their choice until Thursday, July 6 at 4:00pm EDT.