Seven games. You can really stretch out and smile into that. That's enough room to fit an AL East division race into.

Mat Latos is having his best month, last outing notwithstanding. It's easy to slice up a season however you want to make your point. And it's fun too. But even taking the season in full, I ain't disappointed.

Kerry Wood's retirement was just one example of how baseball tends to hold fast to initial expectations - and sometimes first impressions too - even if those expectations were overblown in the first place. A one-time prospect is usually a "bust," not a failed scouting report. I think there were a lot of expectations that Latos would be an ace right away. That his 2010 season was his natural level. That he wouldn't need to adjust.

Real life can be a little more forgiving than baseball. Our view of our parents as omniscient/omnipotent softens over time and becomes more nuanced and compassionate. Usually. My parents are both considered gods by this one tribe after this wacky series of events where we went sailed off course and ran into a cargo cult in the South Pacific.

In any case, this isn't real life, it's a game. Let's try to take it seriously, huh?

Keep your brooms handy.