NL East Report

Atlanta Braves: (42-31; Leader)

The Braves were swept by the Chicago White Sox, and will now face the Detroit Tigers. The prime pitching matchup in this series comes on Sunday, with Tommy Hanson vs. Justin Verlander.

Philadelphia Phillies: (38-32; -2.5)

The Phillies swept the Cleveland Indians, and will stay in Philadelphia to play the Blue Jays, however the Blue Jays will be the home team. Good luck with that. Roy Halladay faces his old teammates for the first time tonight.

Florida Marlins: (35-37; -6.5)

The Marlins fired Fredi Gonzalez and will likely replace him with Bobby Valentine soon. Meanwhile the Marlins will be the only National League series against the San Diego Padres. Josh Johnson against Jon Garland on Saturday. Also the bullpen shuffle continues, as they have DFA’s James Hauser, called up Jose Veras, and signed Armando Benitez to a minor-league deal. Yes, that Armando.

Washington Nationals: (33-40; -9)

Strasburg suffered his first loss during the week to the Royals, 1-0. Ironically, that was the only game in the series that they lost. They play their prime-rival Baltimore Orioles.

BTW: If the rotation stays the way it is, Strasburg will face the New York Mets on July 3, not July 4^th as earlier speculated. His potential opponent would be R.A. Dickey.