No competitive baseball since Sunday, and the big first-half takeaway is that this team is actively trying to take away our love of the game. The pitching has been dominant, and yet we can't hit lefties, can't hit with runners in scoring position, and play bottom-three defense. Somehow that adds up to a game and a half back in the West and the third wild card spot while under .500. Sixth best team in an American League where only five teams are over .500. We keep saying "just wait for it to click." Sixty five games left would be a dang good time.

The road trip recap: a 5-1 homestand followed by a 1-5 trip, because of course. We should have had game one in Miami before Gabe Speier's rare bad command day, but losing to the Marlins and Rays isn't the crime. Both Florida teams are good. The crime is the Royals sweep, the Angels, the A's, all the series against middling teams we should have banked earlier. Tampa got on us so fast Friday and Saturday that we turned both games off before the seventh. Then Sunday the bats jumped a lefty starter early and the bullpen carried a 6-2 win after Hancock took one off the hand. Hopefully the week off is all he needs.

Then the rant portion. Randy jogged after a catchable ball in Castillo's start, let it drop, and Cedric Mullins hit the very next pitch out. Castillo's glare said everything. Randy's hitting .290, but singles to right with nobody on aren't carrying a team his defense keeps costing. And the piggyback six-man rotation has us a man short in a bullpen that's already hurt, throwing the wrong guys in leverage spots. Between those two things we counted about six games gone. Our theory: Castillo stays stretched out to protect his trade value, and we both think he's moved by the deadline. Ryan wants Randy packaged with him and Suzuki brought in. Travis isn't trading the only guy hitting above .280. Either way, we're buyers. This pitching is too good and the AL is too bad to sell.

Injury report: more excited for Carlos Vargas and his hundred mile an hour sinker than for Brash, who we love but don't trust to stay healthy. Julio is past the seven-day mark and hopefully in the lineup for the home opener. Donovan is total radio silence since the end of May, no rehab assignment, no 60-day move, which is weird. Maybe Jerry or Hollander tells us something in the dugout presser.

Around the league: the All-Star Game was a bore, 27 combined strikeouts and an AL win, though Randy got a knock. The Derby saved the week. The new format, where every swing counts and you have to end on an out, was the right call, and Jordan Walker homering on his final swings to beat Schwarber in a dead-silent Philly ballpark was perfect theater. We also solved international baseball: put it in the Olympics mid-season, because the WBC keeps wrecking stars' first halves. See Vladdy and his four homers.

Standings check: Rangers lead the West, we're the only team in the division with a positive run differential, the A's are 1-9, and the White Sox are somehow tied for first in the Central and legit. Up next, Giants and Reds at home, two of the only five NL teams under .500, then the Rangers series that decides who we are. Ryan says 5-1. Travis says 1-5, strictly to reverse the jinx. We'll see you next Thursday either way.