The Haters Ball

As everyone knows, for the past few years the venue for the Haters Ball has been Keens Chophouse, where else? But with G-Man no longer living in Jersey, it became necessary to rethink the Ball. After much consideration, and through the kind of consensus-building that apparently can now occur only outside the Washington Beltway, we decided that the loser would host the Ball, but that the winner would have to travel. The result was, I’d like to think, a dinner every bit as good as Keens, and even if the selection of scotches wasn’t quite as broad, we still did pretty good in the whisky drinking department. Danny came up with the additional touch that the loser should also wear the winning team’s gear, in one fashion or another. And so here you have it; I am decked out in a Yankees cap, and receiving the affections of one of their fans, whether because I am wearing the cap, or just because this was after much red wine and malt whisky, I really don’t know. But this is the kind of thing that can happen at the Haters Ball.

Speaking of haters, the Sox and the Yankees are back at it this weekend in Fenway, and off to a bad start. The series opened with Lester on the mound for the Sox, and he had not previously lost to New York. The Yankees started with Colon, so one would think that the opening game favored the Red Sox. But New York’s bullpen shut the door on Boston’s lineup; Lester gave up three runs in the sixth inning; and the Yankees took game one, by a score of 3 to 2. The upshot is that New York now leads the AL East.

Later this afternoon, Sabathia faces off with Lackey, and on paper at least, that doesn’t even seem close. (It would be close if all they did was compare contracts; Lackey after all is the best paid five hundred pitcher in the universe.) So Boston will either need a miracle, or a strong outing from Beckett tomorrow night in order to prevent a sweeep. Carl Crawford was quoted this morning to the effect that the race will go down to the wire. That’s probably true; and it should also mean that one of these two teams will be hosting the first game of the ALDS, and the other will go on the road as the wild card. In either event, Go Sox.