Although this weekend’s series against the Houston Astros probably won’t be remembered as being among the greatest moments in Dodger Stadium history (unless, of course, Clayton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley or Chris Capuano happen to throw a no-hitter, or five consecutive Dodgers hit home runs or the like), it will be a historical weekend nonetheless. It will be the final time that the Houston Astros come into Chavez Ravine as members of the National League.

Beginning in 2013 and under new ownership the Astros will be moving over to the American League West division, a move that, quite frankly, should have happened years ago. Taking nothing away from past AL West teams who have won the division, being the only division in all of baseball with only four teams instead of five (not to mention being in a league that has 14 teams instead of 16) did give a slight edge to the A’s, Angels, Mariners and Rangers to win their division over teams competing against five or even six teams (in the case of the current NL Central division). Needless to say, the re-alignment of leagues and divisions is not only a welcome thing (well, maybe not so much by Astros fans), but it was the right thing to do to bring equality in the MLB.

The only thing standing between Astros right-hander Lucas Harrell and an Astros 4-game winning streak is some guy named Clayton Kershaw, who just so happens to have a 22 consecutive scoreless inning streak going and has the second lowest ERA in the MLB heading into Friday night's contest. (AP photo)

Since entering the National League in 1962 as the expansion Houston Colt .45s and renamed the Astros in 1969 in honor of America’s space program whose Mission Control Center was located in the popular Texas city, the Astros have an all-time record of 319-386 against the Dodgers, including a 143-215 record at Dodger Stadium. That said, they come into Dodger Stadium this weekend for the final time as an NL team having won 7 of their last 11 games and just completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs at Minute Maid Park.

The good news for the Dodgers is that Clayton Kershaw gets the start in the series opener tonight. Kershaw currently has a 22 consecutive scoreless inning streak going and is 4-1 on the season with the second best ERA in all of baseball at 1.90 (trailing only Atlanta’s Brandon Beachy at 1.77).  Kershaw will square off against Astros right-hander Lucas Harrell who is 3-3 on the season with an ERA of 4.09.

******

Astros Trivia

The Houston Astros are one of only eight teams in MLB history to have never won a World Series title joining the Tampa Bay Rays, Colorado Rockies, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers (but stay tuned on that one), Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers.