Like the Yankees, the Red Sox are expected to finish the year looking up at the feathers of the Blue Jays and Orioles as well as the slippery tail of Tampa Bay Rays.
The food is very good, and the staff makes mealtime magic of its own, staging beach barbecues and, if the tide is low at dusk, drinks and dinner on a long, scorpion-tail sandbar way out in Copperfield Bay.
South Africa had already won the series and the captain, along with tail-ender Makhaya Ntini (28 not out), held Australia at bay for 29 minutes in Sydney before being bowled by Mitchell Johnson.