SEATTLE -- The Rangers were three pitches away from taking a four-game winning streak into their day off on Monday in Seattle.

Unfortunately, there are no "mulligans" in baseball. Vicente Padilla did give up three home runs in three pitches on Saturday afternoon in a 5-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics, so the Rangers had to settle for winning three of their last four games.

That's not bad to think about while taking in the many sights of the Emerald City, but the Rangers have something else that probably makes them feel a combination of relieved and lucky.

They have won just five of their first 13 games but they are still just 1 1/2 games out of first place in the American League West. Nobody is really watching the standings that closely unless a team is seriously threatening to bury itself right from the start.

The Rangers haven't done that, despite some early struggles, and that has to make for an easier off-day, even if there was some squirming after they were sitting in Anaheim with a 2-7 record last Thursday morning.

"It could be better, but I think we're still learning about ourselves," first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "We're still learning about our lineup and how it fits together. We're still learning about our rotation and our bullpen. It's going to take time for this team to get accustomed to each other.

"The positive thing we can take is our pitching has been solid. If we continue to get good pitching, we'll score more runs. Our offense has not produced like it's used to producing, but our pitching has been good."

As of Monday morning, the Rangers pitching staff was fifth in the American League with a 4.57 ERA, while their offense was 10th with 59 runs scored.

Usually, it's the Rangers offense that has to carry them, but that hasn't been the case so far this season -- especially since they are getting little production out of their outfield.

The Rangers rotation is seventh in the league with a 5.03 ERA, but that also includes the seven runs that knuckleballer R.A. Dickey gave up in 3 1/3 innings against the Detroit Tigers.

Dickey has since been optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma, and the current rotation of Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Kameron Loe, Rick Bauer and John Koronka have a combined.4.37 ERA as starters.

"More consistent pitching creates a positive mindset in the offense," manager Buck Showalter said. "If we continue to pitch well, that just relaxes us as we go forward, and we realize multiple runs [in an inning] our not a necessity."

That basically means the Rangers don't have to sit around and wait for the three-run home run. They can do a little more as far as manufacturing runs.

"We know we have a pretty good offense," designated hitter Phil Nevin said. "What's going to make us better is pitching and defense. If we can keep getting good pitching and defense, with our offense, we can rattle off a lot of games in a row. Plus, our down time won't be that long when you have guys like Millwood, Padilla and Loe pitching back-to-back-to-back in the rotation."

The Rangers knew this wasn't going to be an easy road trip. It's not their longest road trip of the season, but it is their only one involving stops in each of the other three cities in the American League.

That makes it important, and losing the first two against the Angels was not the way they wanted to start. But in winning three of four, including two in Oakland, the Rangers are now 3-3 on the trip with three left against the Mariners.

The Rangers have won 25 of their last 38 games against the Mariners and took six of nine from them at Safeco Field, so they have a real shot at going back home with a winning record off the trip.

That's better than getting buried early.

"There's so much parity in our division, I don't think anybody is going to run away with it," catcher Rod Barajas said. "Even though we're not playing our best baseball, we're staying close. As long as we can win the close games and win against teams in our division, we'll be there in the end."