Nationals Vs. Phillies: Washington Begins 5-Game Road Trip With Philadelphia Stop

The Nationals look to win their seventh straight series and extend their NL lead with three games against the Phillies -- the last team to take a series from Washington, way back at the beginning of August.

The Phillies are no longer contenders for the playoffs, 19.5 games back of the Nats, while Washington is in pretty solid shape coming off a series against the Braves that extended their lead over Atlanta to 6.5 games.

Toeing the rubber for Washington is Edwin Jackson, who has pitched a pair of decent starts against the Phillies this year, but taken a pair of losses as his team fell 3-2 and 4-1. Meanwhile, the Phillies' starter, Kyle Kendrick, has been the model of inconsistency, alternating between brilliance -- he's had four 7-plus inning shutout performances on the year -- and mediocrity -- namely, a series of bad starts that saw the Phillies push the righty into the bullpen for most of July. Now, he's leaning towards the former, having pitched seven and eight innings of shutout ball in his last two outings, against the Marlins and Brewers, respectively, leaving the Nats to try to snap his streak of scoreless innings.

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