The temperatures in the San Francisco Bay Area aren't the only thing driving the heat up right now. If I told you that the two of the hottest teams in the National League right now are the San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals, you might look at me with a surprised face. The Nationals (32-29) have won 7 of their last 10 and are now tied for first after a recent surge of good games and key offense. The Giants (42-21) have won 8 of their last 10 on the back of good pitching and timely hitting.

Tonight they start their four game saga, with the Nationals looking to gain a lead in the NL East and Giants looking to further pad their lead in the NL West. I think it is safe to say that both teams will be put to the test in this series.

The Giants' big bat Michael Morse will face his old team, and the Nationals' manager Matt Williams returns to face the team he played nearly a decade for. Williams recognizes the Giants' prowess as of late, but hopes to come out on the winning side of this series.

The Nationals have been hitting the ball well as of late, with Ian Desmond getting a home run in back to back games and Jayson Werth who has had a hit in 10 of his last 11 games. The Giants have been firing on all cylinders, with a different guy contributing every day. So that turns our attention to pitching.

The Giants will probably be thanking their lucky stars they won't have to face Jordan Zimmermann, who threw a two-hit shutout against the  Padres on Sunday. Nor will they have to face Gio Gonzalez who has had success against the Giants, sporting a 1.46 ERA in 4 outings against them in the last 3 years.

It will be Ryan Vogelsong (4-2, 3.39 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) against Stephen Strasburg  (5-4, 3.10 ERA, 1.25 WHIP) in the first game of the series on Monday night. Strasburg will look to get his third straight win of the season while Ryan Vogelsong looks to get his 9th straight start with 6 or more innings pitched.

Here are the rest of the matchups for this series...

Tuesday: Madision Bumgarner (8-3, 2.68, 1.17) vs. Doug Fister (4-1, 3.19, 0.98)

Wednesday: Matt Cain (1-3, 3.52, 1.14) vs. Tanner Roark (4-4, 2.91, 1.05)

Thursday: Tim Hudson (6-2, 1.97, 0.96) vs. Blake Treinen (0-2, 1.78, 1.42)