1) we were 3 games out last month and won 6 in a row and came back to eventually take a 4 game lead. None of the other 2 teams in the hunt are clearly better than us and I don't see any of the 3 teams pulling away so what's the point of worrying that much in July? 2) Worst team in baseball is 8-1 since the break (5-1 not against us) so obviously a team we caught in a hot stretch while we were in a down stretch. It happens during a long season. The 2006 Cubs were awful but swept the World Series winning Cardinals twice (1 a 4 gamer) during that season. They obviously bounced back. Again it's one series in July. Before that we weren't playing our best but we were still treading water (7-7 in previous 14). Most teams, even the best teams go through periods of mediocre play over a long season. It just happens. 3) don't know much about the effort thing but part of the reason we hired Maddon is because of his successful experience managing a group of young players and keeping their focused on giving effort every day. If there's an issue I'm pretty confident we have the right guy to address it. Key point is that this is one small stretch in a 162 game season. Every team has peaks and valleys every season and it's not worth getting upset over all that much in July. I'm not saying it doesn't suck but with perspective it sucks a lot less.