The recently-punchless Philadelphia Phillies put a stop to a losing streak Sunday. Now NL favorites will try to start a winning streak when they host the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday night for the opener of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

Philly ended a four-game losing streak by beating the Pirates in Pittsburgh Sunday, 7-3, behind seven solid innings from stopper Roy Halladay. Sunday's game also marked the first time in five games that the Phillies scored more than three runs.

So heading into this week Philly leads the NL East by three games over the second-place Florida Marlins.

On the other side of this matchup the Dodgers just took two of three games from the Reds in Cincinnati, rallying from down 7-2 in the eighth to win on Saturday, then taking Sunday's series rubber match 9-6 thanks in part to a homer and three RBI from starting pitcher Chad Billingsley. So LA has won five of its last seven games to get within four games of .500 at 28-32, and within 5 1/2 games of the first-place San Francisco Giants in the NL West.

Statistically speaking, Los Angeles ranks 21st in the majors in team on-base percentage at .316, 23rd in team slugging at .367 and 26th in scoring at 3.7 runs per game. LA has, however, scored at least seven runs in five of its last seven games.

Dodgers pitching, meanwhile, ranks 19th in team ERA at 3.95 and 22nd in WHIP at 1.35, but third in quality starts with 38. Unfortunately for LA fans, the bullpen ranks 27th with a 4.47 ERA.

Philadelphia, supposedly a hard-hitting outfit, ranks 18th in team OBP at .319, 19th in homers with 47 and 19th in scoring at just over four runs per game.

Philly pitching, though, led by that wonderful starting rotation, ranks third in ERA at 3.21, third in WHIP at 1.23 and leads the majors in strikeouts and quality starts. And the bullpen ranks third with a 2.77 ERA.

Monday night's pitching matchup pits a couple of lefties against each other as Ted Lilly starts for the Dodgers against Cliff Lee for Philadelphia 7:05 p.m. EST, ESPN). Then Rubby De La Rose is slated to make his first career ML start for LA Tuesday vs. Roy Oswalt for the Phillies (7:05 p.m. EST). And Wednesday Hiroki Kuroda will go for Los Angeles against Cole Hamels for Philly (7:05 p.m. EST).

LA is 6-6 in Lilly's starts this season, 5-7 in Kuroda's, while the totals are 6-6 in Lilly's starts, 7-4 in Kuroda's.

The Phillies are 9-3 in Hamels starts this year, but only 10-11 when Lee and Oswalt start. Also, the totals are a combined 12-18 when Hamels, Lee and Oswalt start this season.

Lilly has posted three quality starts in a row, giving up six earned runs on 20 baserunners (hits + walks) in 20 innings pitched. On the season the Dodgers have alternated losses and wins over Lilly's 12 starts. They won his last time out, beating Colorado 8-2.

Lee, on the other hand, is coming off two bad outings in a row, coughing up 10 ERs on 21 baserunners in 13 1/3 innings. So he'll be looking to right his ship Monday night.

De La Rosa, a 21-year-old righty, put up a 2.92 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP and a 19/52 BB/K ratio in 40 innings with AA Chattanooga earlier this year. In three relief appearances since coming up to the bigs a couple of weeks ago De La Rosa has allowed one ER in five innings, walking one and striking out five.

Oswalt has strung together four straight quality starts, giving up just five ERs on 35 baserunners in 23 IP. But the Phillies have lost three of those four starts by scores of 2-1, 2-0 and 2-1. Last year Oswalt beat the Dodgers twice, holding them scoreless on six hits through 13 1/3 innings of work.

Kuroda bounced back with a decent outing Friday after a couple of rough games previous. Last year Kuroda started once vs. Philly and held them to one hit and no runs in 7 1/3 innings. 

Hamels has allowing just seven earned runs on 24 baserunners (hits + walks) over his last 29 innings pitched, covering four starts. So he's on a bit of a roll. However, his last couple of starts vs. LA, in the 2009 NLCS, did not go well, as Hamels got roughed up for seven ERs in 9 1/3 innings in two starts.  

On the injury front the Dodgers just placed SS Rafael Furcal on the disabled list for the second time this season. And Philly SS Jimmy Rollins missed Sunday's game with a sore knee, and his status for Monday night and the rest of this series is uncertain. 

This is the first time these two teams have gotten together this year. Last year Philly took the season series from the Dodgers, 4-2. The Phillies won two three in the one series these teams played in Philadelphia, and two of those games played “over” the totals, as the teams combined to score 45 runs in that series. 

As of Monday morning Bodog is offering Philly at 3/2 to win the National League pennant and 3/1 odds to win the World Series. The Dodgers are getting 35/1 to win the pennant and 75/1 to win the Series.

Dodgers at Phillies Odds and Betting Trends

The Phillies have opened as a big -285 favorite on Bodog for this series. The Dodgers can be had at the underdog price of +225.

The Phillies are 19-10 at home this season.

The Dodgers are 13-16 on the road this season.

The “over/unders” are 31-25 in Dodgers games this season.

The “over/unders” are 28-26 in Phillies games this season.

The “over/unders” are 14-12 in games played at Citizens Bank Park this season, which have averaged 7.9 RPG, 13th-fewest among all ML ballparks. Last year games played at CBP averaged 8.7 RPG.

MLB Predictions: Dodgers at Phillies Baseball Picks

The Dodgers miss Halladay in the Phillies rotation in this series, but Philly misses Kershaw and Billingsley. And in looking at the rest of these rotations it becomes obvious that Philly is pick here to win this series.

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