Karma, or ...

There are days when I hate Grassy Knoll Guy. OK., so that's not quite true.

I hate Grassy Knoll Guy every day.

He always rears his head at the worst possible times, whispering his paranoia in my ear, spoiling the magic at every turn. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is, he says. And, Come on, you don't think that was the plan all along?

Which brings me to last night, Washington, D.C., and The Plan All Along.

If you missed it they held the All-Star Game Home Run Derby in D.C. last night, an event that generally holds little wonder for the Blob. I mean, it's a bunch of long-ball artists dining out on room-service lobs expressly designed to be mashed. Of course they hit 'em a country mile. Why wouldn't they?

Anyway, last night Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs came to the final round with an 18-9 lead over Bryce Harper of the hometown Nationals, whose designated pitcher was his father. And so of course you know what happened next: Harper clubbed nine of his last 10 balls out of the park to tie it, then won it in overtime.

Grassy Knoll Guy would tell you this was the Plan, because Harper was only entered in the Derby to begin with because he's the local star and he's likely playing his final season in a Nats uniform. So this was his salute to the fans for all the good times in Washington.

I suppose that could be true.

But the Blob, being an incurable romantic, prefers to see what happened last night as simply karma at work. That it wasn't scripted at all, but merely happenstance lining up with the perfect storyline in some wonderfully mystical way.

"Ha!" Grassy Knoll Guy sneers.

Oh, shut up.