PAWTUCKET — Travis Denker drove out to Six Flags in Springfield, Mass., and rode the Catapult, Cyclone and the Big Kahuna.

Chris Carter slept, watched seven movies and enjoyed a nice meal with his girlfriend at one of Providence's tony steakhouses.

PawSox manager Ron Johnson retreated to his mountain hideaway in rural Tennessee and "played cowboy." He enjoyed it so much "my horse was waving at me with his hoof," as Johnson rode out of town.

The Triple-A All-Star break was good to the PawSox. They say they're rested, ready and looking forward to a dramatic uptick in productivity during the second half of the season. The PawSox began the half hugging the .500 mark (43-44) and 7 1/2 games out of first place in the North Division of the International League.

Those solid numbers don't speak to the team's real troubles, however. The PawSox are the I.L.'s worst offensive team. They entered Thursday night's game against Indianapolis hitting .230 as a team. That mark led to losses in five straight games and eight of nine overall to end the first half of the schedule.

"We're scuffling. We know what the deal is. We'll see," Johnson said before Thursday's game.

The players say they see the resumption of the schedule as a fresh start and are clearly hoping for the best. Only two players in the starting lineup (Chris Carter and Jeff Natale) were hitting above .250, and the team had scored less than three runs (53 games) nearly twice as many times as they'd scored three or more (34).

"I think this break can definitely help our hitting," Carter said. "There's two things. One, we're all rested up. We were really pressing and the days off have to help. And now we have the good weather. We're all going to use that and feed off it. I know I'm going to get off here and get rolling. Instead of losing by one run like we have, you're going to see us win by five or seven."

The nicer weather was a common theme with many players. The PawSox have virtually the same record on the road as they do at home but hit much better away from the cold, rainy spring and early summer at McCoy. The PawSox have hit .244 and scored 165 runs on the road, compared with a .214 average and just 125 runs at home. "The wind is blowing warmer around here," infielder Travis Denker said. "We've played phenomenally on the road and it's warmer everywhere else. I think we're going to be fine."

The team is comforted by the fact that several veterans who've struggled own solid track records. Johnson began singing that refrain as far back as May, but vets such as Paul McAnulty, Angel Chavez and Gil Velazquez continue to struggle. "Hey, we have six weeks left. That's it," Johnson said.

Carter, the outfielder who began the season with the Boston Red Sox, says he has plenty of confidence in his teammates.

"I've been around long enough to know that talent always rises to the surface," he said. "It's going to happen. Guys will get hot and they'll finish where they want to be. That's what I see happening."

kmcnamar@projo.com