I imagine the all-star game and corresponding days off of baseball broke our rhythm. Denizens aren't the kind of scrubs who can play every fifth day and be productive. Give us regular playing time or trade us to someone who will!
I dunno about the need to go 5-5 Matt. If the current incarnation of the Ms has taught me anything, it's that whenever they hit a stretch that could "decide their season" they will play exactly well enough to still technically be alive, but poorly enough that their relevance is always tenuous at best. Therefor, I figure they'll go 4-6, maybe even 3-7. But then they'll go 6-3 against the Mets, Rangers and Royals and we'll all nod our heads sagely and say, "you know, they only lost those games because they were facing such good teams. They're still a tier two, wild card relevant squad."
Of course I also assume we eventually miss the playoffs by 2-4 games, so maybe they DO have to go 5-5 to actually prove me wrong.