We came out of the road trip a game under .500 and carrying a franchise record we did not want. Thirteen straight games scoring three runs or fewer, the same mark we set back in 2015 and 2016 when this team was actually bad. Doing it while basically healthy for the first time since early April makes it worse. The only real absence is Donovan, and even he's just taking a couple days. Pitching has been the saving grace. George has three straight quality starts, Luis is sitting around a 1.69 over his last handful, and Woo set a scoreless-innings streak north of 31 at home before the road version of Woo showed up again. Randy's back, Dom's back and fighting a nagging hamstring that kept him out Tuesday. The bats keep getting bodies and keep flailing anyway.

Pittsburgh cost us the series, and it stung because we missed Skenes and still couldn't cash. Game one we took 3-2 behind six strong from Kirby, a Cal Raleigh homer, and the storybook one, Cole Young going deep in his hometown with his high school coach in the bleachers. Mooney closed it for save fourteen and finally looks like someone we can trust again. Game two was the 11-1 clunker, three hits and a run in the first and nothing after. Game three was the real gut punch, a 9:30 a.m. getaway where we loaded the bases three times and scored zero, stranding twelve. That is where pinch-hitting a .133 lefty specialist for Canzone or Raleigh becomes exhibit A for why Jerry and Dan are on the list.

Cleveland was more of the same, another 1-2. We won game one on the hometown tour, Colt Emerson going 3-for in Ohio and Dom Canzone launching one of his own, with Castillo dialed in. Saturday we lost 4-3, down 4-0 into the eighth before a Randy three-run shot and some good ninth-inning at-bats against a top closer came up short. Sunday was the worst, because we finally broke the three-run wall in the seventh and thought we had a series win. Then Dan pulled Hancock one out early, burned Bazardo for a single out, and let Josh Simpson lose it to the lefties. JP grounded out on the first pitch in the ninth and that was that. It makes you wonder how many of these calls are even Dan's, or a directive coming down from Jerry.

Then the Angels flipped the mood. We walked in expecting a sweep, a game under .500 and out of the division lead, and instead took the first two. Game one was the Cole Young show, his first two-homer game, one a lefty-lefty laser to dead center, with Dom adding a lefty-lefty tank of his own. Game two we saw in person, an 8-3 win built on twelve singles and a double, Woo dealing at home, Julio with three hits and his average finally creeping up, Colt with three more. Bryce Miller goes tonight against Ureña looking as sharp as he has all year. As for the piggyback, it got called off the second Logan got hot and we have not heard a word since. It is on the shelf, probably dead, and honestly good riddance to being a man short in the pen.

Around the league, the Mets finally cut their manager loose at 34-47, though changing the vibe over there feels hopeless. Misiorowski hit 105.5, which we are rounding to 106, and he had the nerve to say he slipped and left a couple ticks on the table. The Angels fired their GM two weeks before the draft, which barely registers for a franchise that has been in the dumpster for thirteen years. The Yankees are scuffling without Judge while the Rays ripped off seven straight behind Caminero's six-game homer streak. And the White Sox dropped twenty-two on the Royals, almost all of it on homers, on a day the Cubs put up twenty-one and the Rockies fourteen.

Tonight it is the Angels again, then a three-game pennant rematch with a Blue Jays team limping in having lost seven of eight. Stay right, don't let anybody else get right, and ride it to October. Ryan says it probably won't happen. He also said that last week.

June hit the Mariners in the mouth and hasn't let up. Two weeks off for a graduation and a camping trip, and we didn't miss much beyond an annoying grind. Since the last show we've gone 7-9, two games under .500 after sitting near the top of the league since May 25th. A 4-6 road trip, then 3-3 at home. The wild part: we're a game over .500 at 40-39 and still in first place, because the AL West and the whole AL are that bad. Outside the Yankees and their plus-112 run differential, nobody has separated. We're at plus-17. The division is a blanket, with the A's a game and a half back, the Rangers two, the Astros three, and even the Angels only eight out.

The injuries are the story. We had two-thirds of the Opening Day lineup on the IL at some point on the trip, almost all position players this time, which beats last year's run of pitching injuries since the rotation can still carry us. Cal is back behind the plate and you can see his impact on the starters, but the power isn't there yet. Still think he's good for 25. Donovan remains a total mystery, no rehab outings, no updates. Randy should be eligible tomorrow and we need his bat. Julio and Josh both missed time dinged up, and Julio's average has slid to .247, which is starting to scare me. Then Dom pulled up holding his hamstring, called minor and day to day. Somebody get Rick Griffin back in here.

Defense got sloppy too. Naylor botched a routine glove flip to Gilbert covering the bag, not what you want from a five-year, ninety-million-dollar first baseman. The bright spot is JP sliding to third so Colt Emerson can play his natural shortstop. The captain gave up his career spot and has looked sharp over there.

The rotation question is the piggyback. They went back to it with Miller and Castillo, but it leaves us short in the pen and it backfired Friday. At some point Castillo has to move to long relief or the ninth, though neither of us fully trusts him or a Jekyll-and-Hyde Munoz late.

Farm report is the good news. Kade Anderson is 8-0 with a 1.3 ERA at Double-A Arkansas, paired with Ryan Sloan. Dipoto says a callup is coming, likely two-inning spot starts to manage his innings.

Road trip in brief: should have won in Detroit but Munoz blew Sunday. Split four in Baltimore after stealing the first two on absurd replacement-level defense. A ten-run explosion in Washington, then the offense vanished, fifteen runs total over the next eight games. Home stand: pitching carried all three wins. Gilbert was vintage in the opener, 97-98 again, seven innings and ten punchouts in a 3-1 win. George cruised then derailed in game two. Woo was dominant at home, nine strikeouts into the eighth in a 3-0 shutout. Then Boston rolled out three lefties, our kryptonite, and ground us down with eighty-mile-an-hour singles while Suárez carried a no-hitter into the seventh. We took the Father's Day finale 3-1 behind another Gilbert gem to stay a game and a half up.

Around the league: Schwarber went off, 29 bombs with two in one inning, and Harper cycled the same game. Misiorowski throws 104 every pitch and looks untouchable, even if a couple of Tommy Johns feel inevitable. Skubal trade chatter is heating up, no thanks at his price. The White Sox might be for real, sitting in the second wild card.

Up next, Pittsburgh then Cleveland, both middling like us, both winnable if we play up to it. Randy is likely back this series. Knowing us it'll be excruciating, three runs a night, hanging on for dear life. A lot of hope, but a fearful hope.

Episode thirteen and finally some traction. The boys capped an eight game win streak with a 5-1 homestand and three straight series wins, the first time that's happened all year. Losing 7-1 to end it barely stung. That's what an eight game streak buys you.

Injury news first. Cal Raleigh is targeting rehab games in Everett this weekend, sold out two hours after they announced it, then Tacoma, with a likely June 16 return for the first game back off the road trip. No rush. The point is getting Cal in-game swings he never got in spring while off at the WBC, where the swing and miss was real. Brendan Donovan has no clear timeline, working the anti-gravity treadmill on his groin in Arizona. When he's back the puzzle gets fun. Colt isn't leaving third, JP and Cole stay put for defense, so Donovan slots into a DH or outfield platoon. The dream is parking Randy at DH to hide his glove and his hustle, because if he does his one job everybody wins.

Friday we were there in person. JP Crawford led off with a homer, Julio went deep, and then the wave started with runners on and cursed the whole thing. Brash couldn't locate, a 5-1 lead evaporated. Luke Raleigh tied it with a solo shot that landed near our seats. Naylor booted a barehand play, his defense is not great, but Mooney limited the damage and Cooper Chriswell has been absolute dynamite when called on. Then they walked Naylor to set up the double play and pitch to Randy, who lifted a ground ball pitch into a walk-off two-run blast. JP's first career two-homer game.

Saturday was a four-homer slugfest with no other offense, which is the whole problem. Nearly seventy percent of our runs come from the long ball, and that backfires in October against arms throwing 97. Luke Raleigh, a platoon bat, leads the team in homers. Colt and Dom both went deep, Dom's getting baseballed hard with no luck. Woo went seven, nine K. Julio capped his best month ever, ten bombs and a .357 stretch in May. That's the Julio we've been waiting for.

Sunday in the steelhead unis we survived 3-2 in extras on the last successful piggyback, Bryce and Luis each going five, homers from Cole Young and Canzone, and Victor's first career walk-off infield single. Two tenth-inning walk-off wins in one series. Thin margins, but these are the games we lost all April and May. Then we swept the Diamondbacks.

Mets series, and they're loaded with Soto, Bo Bichette, and Semien hitting seventh, yet they keep metting it up. Monday was four hits and a 2-1 grind win, Hancock dealing, Naylor tying it with a back-tweaking homer, Cole Young walking it off after Randy stole third uncontested. Tuesday was a laser show, Patrick Wisdom and Johnny Pareto tanks. Pareto bat-flips singles and has made himself a real tough demotion when Cal returns, a serviceable backup with great energy. Wednesday the streak ended at eight, Kirby got George'd to death pounding the zone too predictably while Peralta shut us down.

Around the league: the Yankees hung thirteen in a single inning on the A's, eighteen batters, eleven hits. The Rangers and A's won't go away, both within striking distance. The White Sox are somehow chugging, new management and a better locker room going a long way. And yes, the Pope is a Sox fan.

Ten game road trip ahead through Detroit, Baltimore, and Washington. Ryan's high on his own supply at 8-2, the saner take is 7-3. Split Baltimore, handle the Nationals despite James Wood. Just pray it doesn't rain in Camden like it always does.