Dodgers NL MVP candidate Cody Bellinger leads baseball's top team into Philly

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Leading NL MVP candidate Cody Bellinger leads LA into Philly

The Philadelphia Phillies (48-45) welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers (62-33) to South Philly for a four game series this week at Citizens Bank Park.

For the visiting Dodgers, this will be a chance to continue to re-establish their dominance. After suffering through their first four-game losing streak since mid-April, the Dodgers exploded for 18 runs to capture their last two against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

The Dodgers come to Philly with the third-highest runs per game average (5.25) in the National League. Also, their pitching staff has the lowest ERA and batting average against in the league.

Those numbers highlight the reasons that the Dodgers have romped to a 14.5 game lead in the NL West Division as they try to win a seventh consecutive division crown. In addition, the Dodgers have the best overall record in the National League, sitting four games clear of the Atlanta Braves in the loss column.

These two teams met at Dodger Stadium at the end of May while both were in first place. The Dodgers swept out the Phillies, outscoring them 18-6 to begin the Phillies slide in the standings. With this series at home, the Phillies will try to reverse both that previous outcome and their own season fortunes.

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Dodgers power past Phillies by 6-3 on Friday night at Chavez Ravine

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Joc Pederson helped lead host LA past the Phils on Friday night

The Los Angeles Dodgers (39-19) showed the Philadelphia Phillies (33-24) why the National League pennant has gone through the six-time NL West champions in each of the last two seasons, and why it likely will once again in 2019, putting a 6-3 thumping on the visitors on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

In front of 54,307 fans, the largest crowd to see a game at Chavez Ravine since 2012, the Dodgers ripped Phillies starter Jake Arrieta for 10 hits and three home runs. Two of those longballs came in the home 5th inning, when the Dodgers scored three times to break open a tie ball game.

The scoring got started in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Joc Pederson led off with a base hit, which was followed immediately by a two-run homer off the bat of Max Muncy.

The Phillies answered in the top of the 4th when Andrew McCutchen took Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda out to dead center field. His 10th home run of the season cut the deficit to just a 2-1 margin.

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In the top of the 5th, Arrieta got himself even. With runners at second and third and two out, the Phillies pitcher lined a base hit to left, scoring Cesar Hernandez with the run that temporarily tied the game back up at 2-2.

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

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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.

A look at the 10 dramatic Philadelphia Phillies postseason extra-innings games

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Maddox was in the middle of the action during  the decisive1980 NLCS Game Five

The Los Angeles Dodgers season was on the brink as Game 3 of the 2018 World Series staggered into the bottom of the 18th inning at Dodgers Stadium. The Boston Red Sox had a 2-0 lead and would take a nearly insurmountable 3-0 stranglehold on the series with a victory.

The Dodgers were rescued when Max Muncy lofted a lead-off, walk-off, opposite-field home run to give Los Angeles a 3-2 win, pulling them back from the precipice and cutting Boston’s lead in the Fall Classic to a 2-1 margin.

In the 136-year history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise the club has reached postseason play on 13 occasions. They have been involved in 103 games across 22 different series during those playoff appearances.

Just ten of those games reached extra-innings. The Phillies have an even 5-5 split result. While none lasted nearly as long as last night’s marathon, each held its own drama and importance, and revealed its own heroes and scapegoats.

Let’s take a quick look back at each of those five Philadelphia Phillies extra-inning postseason victories and defeats.

1950 WORLD SERIES - GAME TWO

The Phillies were swept by the powerful New York Yankees in four straight games in this Fall Classic. But the young ‘Whiz Kids’ didn’t go down without a fight. They battled the Bronx Bombers evenly during the first three games, losing each by a single run.

After the Yankees had taken the opener by a 1-0 score, Game 2 of the 1950 World Series would again be held at what was still in those days known as Shibe Park. The Yanks went up early when Gene Woodling‘s ground single off Robin Roberts scored Jerry Coleman in the top of the second inning.

Mike Goliat left off the home 5th with a single off Yankees pitcher Allie Reynolds. He rolled around to third base on a one-out base hit by Eddie Waitkus, and then raced home with the tying run on a sac fly to left from Richie Ashburn.

Roberts and Reynolds would battle into the 10th inning, both pitchers going the distance in what is a complete antithesis to today’s game. In the top of the 10th, Joe DiMaggio crushed a lead-off home run out deep to left field for what would prove to be the game-winner.

1978 NLCS - GAME FOUR

The Phillies had tied the franchise record by winning 101 regular season games for a second straight season. And for a second straight year they would meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers had taken the series the previous year by breaking the hearts of Phillies fans on what has become known as ‘Black Friday’ in team lore. Now a year later, LA appeared on the verge of doing it again, taking the first two games.

Off the DL and back on the mound, Phillies need Zach Eflin at 100%

Eflin off the DL, on the mound in Dodgers series opener

The Philadelphia Phillies open an intriguing three-game series on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Interest in this series comes from a number of angles for Phillies fans. For many, that starts with the return to South Philly for the final time in the regular season of Chase Utley.

The former World Series hero and future Phillies Wall of Famer has announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2018 season. He would only return again should the two teams meet in the postseason.

Another angle is the return of Manny Machado. The longtime Baltimore Orioles star was dealt to Los Angeles last week in exchange for a package of five minor league prospects.

The Phillies were rumored to be after Machado for weeks. They are believed to have finished as runners-up in the trade negotiations and will likely be serious bidders and leading contenders for his long-term services in the coming off-season.

I say the “return” because Machado has already faced the Phillies in three games this month while still with Baltimore. He went 3-12 with a double, two walks, a run scored, and an RBI during what were three Orioles losses.

Perhaps the most important of those items of interest is the fact that this is a match-up between a pair of first place ball clubs. The Phillies (55-43) hold a one-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East Division. The Dodgers (55-44) carry a 1.5 game edge over Arizona and a two-game lead on Colorado into this series.

For the Phillies, right-hander Zach Eflin will return to the mound to start in the opener. It will be the first start since prior to last week’s MLB All-Star Game break for the 24-year-old hurler.

Eflin has already faced Los Angeles once this season. Back on May 28 at Dodger Stadium he was drilled for five earned runs and seven hits, lasted just four innings, and suffered the loss during an 8-2 victory by the host Dodgers. Both Matt Kemp and Max Muncy homered off him that night.

In his last outing on July 9, Eflin went five innings in the first game of a doubleheader at Citi Field in what turned out to be a 10-inning walkoff victory for the host New York Mets. He allowed three earned runs on five hits, striking out four and walking none on the night, with 58 of his 84 pitches going for strikes.

After that start, Eflin developed a blister on the middle finger of his right (pitching) hand. The team decided to replace him with Enyel De Los Santos for what had been his regularly scheduled start last Sunday in Miami. The Phillies placed him on the 10-day disabled list, and the thinking was that he would have the entirety of the break to fully heal.

Per Jesse Morris, M.D. at thefantasydoctors.com: “As we know (think Rich Hill & Aaron Sanchez) these can linger and take a long time to heal.” Per Morris, that healing can take as long as six weeks in some cases. Eflin is returning quickly, and the hope is that he will suffer no setbacks and pick his season right back up where it left off.

Eflin has performed like a front-line starting pitcher this season. He will carry a 7-2 record with a 3.15 ERA and a 3.04 FIP into this start. In his first dozen outings, Eflin has allowed 60 hits over 68.2 innings with a 67/14 K:BB ratio.

Count the skipper of the New York Yankees, Aaron Boone, among those impressed by Eflin. After the righty had tossed seven shutout innings in a 3-0 victory over the Bronx Bombers on June 28, Boone commented as follows per Bill Evans of NJ.com: