Boston Red Sox vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Two long suffering franchises are at the top of their games in recent years and both have come off recent World Series titles after a lengthy time between, granted the Phillies 1980-2008 wait was not nearly as long as the Red Sox 1918-2004 wait, but Philadelphia had only one World title in their long franchise history.

The two teams are playing so well that this weekend’s interleague matchup could quite possibly be a 2009 World Series Preview. The Red Sox (36-24), fresh off another sweep of their bitter rivals, will head to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies (35-23).

It is hard to see a hotter team than the Boston Red Sox currently. Boston improved to 8-0 against New York this season when they rallied for a 4-3 win in Fenway on Thursday night. Boston has won eight of their last 10 and cooled off the hard charging Yankees to take a two-game lead in the AL East, their largest divisional lead since taking a three-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays on May 8, 2008.

One team that would argue for the honor of being the hottest team in baseball is the Philadelphia Phillies, who have won 10 of their last 13 after a 10-inning win over the New York Mets on Thursday.

They will have to stay hot to defeat Boston, a team they have had little success against since the berth of interleague play. They dropped two of three last season, also at home and have dropped 12 of the last 15 against the Red Sox dating back to 2004.

To turn those numbers around, the Phillies will turn to Joe Blanton (4-3, 5.46). He got a no-decision in his last outing, but that was no fault of his own as he allowed a run on five hits over six innings of a 3-2 loss to Los Angeles in 12 innings. Blanton is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his last three games.

Boston will go with Jon Lester (5-5, 5.09), who was perfect through 6 1/3 innings and allowed just two hits and a run in a complete game win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.

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