In an odd schedule quirk, these two teams hadn’t met this season until July 26-28 in Philadelphia when the Giants took two of three games. The Phillies haven’t lost since then, taking sweeps over Pittsburgh and Colorado. The Giants, meanwhile, went on a five-game skid immediately after that Philadelphia series but ended that skid with an 8-1 win over Arizona on Wednesday to regain sole possession of the NL West lead.

Both the Phils and Giants have acquired a big-name player via trade since the teams met. The Phillies got outfielder Hunter Pence from the Astros, while the Giants were able to land Carlos Beltran from the Mets. Beltran had struggled mightily since arriving in San Francisco but had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run Wednesday in his best game since joining the Giants. San Francisco scored its most runs in a home game so far in 2011. Pence has hit .286 (6 for 21) with three RBIs since being acquired from Houston.

The pitching matchup tonight should favor Philadelphia as Cliff Lee (10-7, 3.14) faces Madison Bumgarner (6-10, 3.80) in a battle of lefties. Lee is 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA in the regular season in his career vs. San Francisco, but went 0-2 with a 6.94 ERA in the World Series with Texas last season. Bumgarner had pitched well since the All-Star break before allowing seven runs in four innings of a 7-2 loss at Cincinnati on Saturday.

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