This September feels like it is going to last forever.  

  I had four wisdom teeth "surgically" removed last Friday, so I've had countless woozy, percoset hours this week to obsess about the Sox and their maddening inconsistency at the plate.  Somehow, they managed to ease my pain by winning 7 in a row.  Until today.  Maybe it's because my scrip for percoset ran out.

The magic number didn't budge today, and to add to the karmic stew that is September, the Trib reports that the Sox are already sending scouts to spy on potential playoff opponents.  Could they be any more gleeful in creating jinxes for the enemies of their pathetic Cubs?

Which leads me to wonder which side of the magic number to focus on: should we be suppressing any hint of hubris by concentrating 100% on winning the damn division or should we coolly appreciate that the odds of scraping those 15 Sox wins/Indians losses together are very good and look ahead to the playoffs?  

Both options seem to tempt fate in different, agonizing ways.

Perhaps we should just kick back and debate the rotation some more, stew some more over the conundrum of El Duque, wonder how in the hell they can get McCarthy some more starts, scratch our heads at Rowand's weird season, go in circles about what to do with Joe Crede, ask ourselves what it might take for Juan Uribe to get a walk or for Podesdnik to ever steal another base or for Carl Everett to actually hustle during this pennant race or for someone on this team to hit .300.... but it all leads back to the same thing: how do we keep from going insane this September?

Any suggestions are welcome.  

Spengler (Oswald, not Egon :-)  )