We're calling this stretch a roller coaster, and it earned the name. In Milwaukee we opened with as ugly a loss as you'll see, a 22-3 blowout where Julio lost track of outs and fired a ball into the stands, and the Brewers didn't even need their bullpen to close it, a position player did the job. We answered with a 7-run first two innings and held on to avoid the sweep, but George got rocked early in the finale and we dropped the series to the best team in baseball. Small mercy: we got our win in.

Cal Raleigh's turnaround has been the story of the last two weeks. He moved his hands up in his swing, his plate decisions have sharpened, and it started right around when he stopped internalizing everything and told the New York media what's done is done. He backed it up with a three-run homer Friday that set up a Leo Rivas walk-off after Andres Munoz let Bregman tie it, one of two rare Munoz slip-ups since June and July. With Woo skipping a turn for a shoulder issue, Cade Anderson made his debut against a tough lineup and gave us almost six quality innings and three runs, more movement than velocity, already clearly more pitcher than thrower.

Then came the Randy game. Arozarena led off with a first-pitch homer, robbed one in the outfield to save Cade's bid, and with two outs in the ninth down two runs to a closer who hadn't allowed a run in 25 innings, Weston Wilson doubled, Rivas bled one through, and Randy walked it off to dead center. Bookend homers with a robbery in between. We haven't seen that kind of fight in a while.

Sunday reminded us who we can still be. Bryce Miller gave up two grand slams in a 19-0 loss, walked the bases loaded, and leaned on a splitter that's never a strike even with seven pitches to choose from. His velocity has been sliding since Texas and something's clearly wrong, whether that means the IL or a bullpen conversation soon.

The Phillies series turned into a showcase. Julio hit his 20th off Zach Wheeler, Logan Gilbert stranded Philadelphia's red-hot lineup all night, and Cal put up the first three-homer game at T-Mobile since Edgar in '99, lefty power we hadn't seen from him in a while. Kirby followed with 21 whiffs, a season high, and flirted with the first complete game since 2023 before Dan went to the pen. Munoz got shaky with his fastball command but found the slider when he needed it. We couldn't finish the sweep though. Lazaro shut us out with basically two pitches, and Woo, back from his skipped turn, had the velocity but not the location at home, and Bryce Harper made him pay for it.

We sit two and a half back of Houston in the West with 29 games left and the easiest schedule in baseball coming in September, outside one gauntlet series in Boston. Toronto is up next against Dylan Cease, and their bullpen and clutch hitting look as shaky as ours have all year, so we like our chances there.

Injury front is ugly. Brendan Donovan took a ball off the dome in BP and landed back on the IL, Matt Brash looks like a lost cause on the 60-day, and Carlos Vargas is finally back and already useful. Colt Emerson tried to play through a wrist injury, kept it quiet, and now needs season-ending surgery. Naylor is banged up too and nearly added a second team concussion in two months before somehow staying in the game.

We're also done watching Dan rest guys who don't need rest in games we can't afford to lose, but full credit to Dominic Canzone, who's turned into a genuine everyday bat and not just a lefty platoon piece anymore. Looking ahead, Randy's a rental probably taking East Coast money this winter, and if Gino clears waivers cheap we'd take the swing-and-miss for the vibes. Mostly we just want Jerry to find a right-handed bat instead of more pitching and let this team play like the Brewers: get on, get over, get in.