The Washington Nationals open up a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night. Kyle Kendrick takes the mound for Philadelphia with a 6-9 record and 4.20 ERA. Edwin Jackson gets the start for Washington. He is 7-8 on the year with a 3.69 ERA.

The Phillies have struggled this year and find themselves 19.5 games back of the first-place Nationals heading into tonight. However, Philadelphia was the most recent team to win a series over the Nats, taking two of three at Nationals Park at the beginning of the month.

The Nationals are in a comfortable position headed into the season's stretch run, currently sitting 6.5 games over the second-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East.

Lineups:

Nationals

RF - Jayson Werth
CF - Bryce Harper
3B - Ryan Zimmerman
1B - Adam LaRoche
LF - Michael Morse
SS - Ian Desmond
2B - Danny Espinosa
C - Kurt Suzuki
SP - Edwin Jackson

Phillies

SS - Jimmy Rollins
3B - Kevin Frandsen
2B - Chase Utley
1B - Ryan Howard
RF - Domonic Brown
CF - John Mayberry, Jr.
LF - Laynce Nix
C - Erik Kratz
SP - Kyle Kendrick

For more on the Nats, check out Federal Baseball, and stick around SB Nation DC for more updates on the team's weekend series.