Early July Clash of the NL East Titans

And by titans I mean two teams with a combined record of 78-76.

The Mets and Phillies have been the two teams atop the NL East for quite a few seasons now. After both teams struggling mightily over the past weeks, not to mention the Phillies being swept at the hand of the Braves, the East is currently a four team race. The Phils are currently TIED with the Marlins at the top of the division with the Mets and Braves back one and two games respectively.

The division will likely be decided by pitching and with that fact becoming more blatantly apparent with each mounting loss, the Phillies send out... Rodrigo Lopez.

Lopez hasn't made a start in the bigs since '07 and his photo on Phillies.com currently has him wearing a Rockies cap. If that doesn't sell you on the guy, listen to Ruben Amaro Jr. talk about him like he's a can of soup stocked on the super market shelf.

"Anytime you can build inventory, it gives you options when you have to make decisions like the one we had to make," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "Is he a No. 1 pitcher? No. But he's a viable professional pitcher and hopefully he can pitch effectively for us in the big leagues."

Now THAT is a ringing endorsement. Oh, and he led all of baseball in loses in 2006 and he gave up the second most earned runs that year trailing only potential Phillie trade material Jason Marquis.

With all that said, I wouldn't be shocked if Lopez shows up tonight and baffles the light hitting Mets line up.

The Mets will throw out Livan Hernandez who hasn't won a non-Nationals game since May 10th. Maybe Livan will be the panacea to the Phillies recent woes. A Phils fan can hope.

Despite both teams sputtering into this series, it could turn out to be a huge point in both teams' seasons. Will the Phils home struggles continue? Can the Mets make a statement and surpass the Phils with a sweep? Can it possibly get any worse?

Plenty of questions heading into tonight's game. Come Monday, we'll have a lot more answers.

Come on Phils, wake up and beat these guys.