It's Amazing What A Three Game Sweep Will Do.

Trot and I, minutes after the Red Sox swept the A's out of Boston. I'm positively giddy with the win, and Trot was just thrilled I wasn't throwing the remote control at the television again.

Man, does a 3 game sweep versus a 3 game beating make the biggest difference in my mental state. After watching the Angels come into Fenway Park and treat the Red Sox like a farm team this week, beating up on the A's was especially satisfying. And anytime I see Frank Thomas looking like he's ready to cry is another notation in the scrapbook.

Throw in Jason Bay doing his best impression of Roy Hobbs the past 3 games and some really good pitching by the bullpen, I've got high hopes for the rest of the season. If we can go into Kansas City and treat those boys like the Jr. College team they are I'll really be feeling my Oates.

And if somebody ACCIDENTALLY flings their bat into the White Sox dugout next weekend and puts Ozzie in the hospital for a few days?

All the better.

If all this seems a bit much, I sincerely apologize. But we're potty training a child who thinks the world is his personal toilet, Rakes is in training to be a cage fighter, and Ciera is setting the world record for "earliest a child has entered puberty."

Throw in the fact Manny must have ran into Jimmy Swaggart in LA, as his hamstrings have miraculously healed and he's hitting bombs like it's batting practice and I'm on the verge of going Peter Gibbons in "Office Space", with some creative liberties taken:

"It's not just about me and my dream of repeating as World Series Champions. It's about all of us. I don't know what happened to me at that hypnotherapist and, I don't know, maybe it was just shock and it's wearing off now, but when I saw that dread locked man keel over and quit - Ang, we don't have a lot of time on this earth! We weren't meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different talking heads go on and on about why Manny left and how it means we won't go to the World Series!"

Is it really only the beginning of August?

How in God's name am I going to make it for another 3 months?