There’s never a right answer to what aptly becomes the question. What do you guys need to do to (blank)' 

Right now, the ending of that phrase isn’t too desirable for an Anglers team wading through mid July. A five-game losing streak has muddied their last week of play and every day at the ballpark is now shaded by a proverbial cloud. A cloud of uncertainty and also expectation, that something needs to happen before July turns to August and the season readies itself to move on. 

The question, at the moment, is this: What do you guys need to do to turn this around' And the answers point to a need for character, focus and grit. 

“It’s not necessarily about one guy stepping up,” Chatham manager John Schiffner said. “I think it takes more than one to say that we need to get going. That’s what it is, that we need to get going.”

The Anglers (12-14-1) will have another shot to snap their skid when they host Falmouth (14-12-1) at Veterans Field at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Charlie Dant (Dayton) still start for Chatham and oppose Missouri State’s Matt Hall, and it was Dant who threw six innings and struck out eight in the Anglers’ 9-3 win, its last win, at Hyannis a week ago. 

Maybe it will be Dant, the crafty right-hander who uses an adept changeup to bolster a moderately hard heater, that helps halt the slide. But as Schiffner and a handful of his players have articulated, it’s not the responsibility of one player to shoulder the rest out of the lull. That’s the team’s job. 

“It just all has to come together at one time,” shortstop Kal Simmons (Kennesaw State) said. “We all have been in losing streaks and know how to win, just need everyone’s effort to make that happen.”

Chatham is currently fourth of five in the East Division, and the top four teams will qualify for the playoffs in the first week of August. Brewster (10-17) is still five points back of the Anglers and Schiffner was discussing the standings after the game on Saturday night. 

There are 17 games left to both stave off Brewster and climb higher up the ladder, and each chance to do so will be more magnified than the last. 

“Before losing five straight we won four straight,” said reliever P.J. Conlon (San Diego). “That’s how this goes.”

Broadcast information     

Broadcast coverage of the Anglers and Commodores begins at 6:40 p.m. with the Anglers Extra Pregame Show. Watch and listen on TRZ Teamline or listen by phone 1-800-846-4700, code 3481. Visit Broadcast Central for more information.