Erin Brazill and the Brazillionaires

OH, YEAH!!  It's finally here, and Boy Howdy, are we excited.  Today's Game at 4:00 is in Arizona against the Diamondbacks (commonly, and around these parts, derogatorily referred to as "The Snakes") with Tim Lincecum facing Ian Kennedy.  Two world class pitchers going head-to-head: that's Baseball, Baby!  Last year, Kennedy owned the Giants with a 3-0 record in five starts.  The Snakes swept us in the final series of the season in September, thereby clinching a playoff berth and knocking Los Gigantes out of the the race to the post-season.  Booooooo!  Timmy and Ian know each other very, very well.  Not only are they both the respective no. 1 starters for their teams, but they were the no. 1 aces on their collegiate pitching staffs (Timmy for UW in Seattle and Ian for USC) and faced each other virtually every time their schools met in the Pac-10.  So there's history, and we've got a strong motivation for revenge today, and it's starting to become a serious rivalry in the NL West between these two powerful teams.  The Snakes have excellent pitching, as Kennedy sits atop a rotation that includes co-ace Daniel Hudson, and they recently added former Bay Area pitching star Trevor Cahill in a trade with the A's in the offseason.  They've also fortified their Bullpen, so they look to be an even stronger team than last year.  But not stronger than The Giants!  No sir.  Our rotation looks even better, with Timmy, Madison Bumgarner, and Matt Cain, each able to match the Snakes pitch for pitch, then Ryan Vogelsong (who had a breakout year in 2011, posting a 2.71 ERA and making the All-Star team) and (-cough-) Barry Zito as the anchor man.  We've improved our hitting by adding Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera in the outfield, Posey's healthy again, plus Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt are in the Opening Day Line-up today (two young players who have the potential to impact the team and the league in a tremendously positive way.)  So we here at The Pitch & The Diamond are literally trembling with excitement at the thought of watching the game... 
WE.  CAN'T.  WAIT.  Is it 4:00 yet?  Is it?!  

And so it is written.  The Giants Starting Line-up today will be thus:

Lincecum on the mound, Posey behind the dish, Belt at 1st, Theriot at 2nd, Crawford at SS, Pablo at 3rd, Huff in LF, Pagan in CF, and Cabrera in RF.  So we weren't too far off in our predictions a week ago, and since Burriss cooled off this last week and Theriot has hit relatively well against Kennedy in the past, the 2B choice makes sense (.333, 3 for 9 vs. Kennedy lifetime.)  Belt at 1B is most excellent and encouraging; Schierholtz made the roster, but a lackluster Spring Training doomed him to the bench, so Huff goes into the outfield and Pagan & Cabrera shift over.  But the most exciting development is that Hector Sanchez, who began last year in Single A Ball in San Jose and shot up through the ranks to play in the Bigs, is now our de facto back up catcher.  Fantastic.  Whiteside was sent down to the minors, and Stewart was traded to the Yankees.  Che sera sera.  We did not see that coming: Totally unexpected, but oh-so-welcome, and yes, it was definitely the right choice.  The truth is, the Giants desperately needed to switch things up from last year, when we over-relied on disappointing veterans and never really got things going at the plate.  It looks like there's been a seismic shift in the attitude and approach of our manager, Bruce Bochy, in that he's trusting in the potential of our supremely talented youngsters, and it bodes well for the future.  Because, at some point, when things aren't quite working out, you've gotta switch it up and try something new.  Play-off Baseball, here we come!!!


Finally, This is from Andrew Baggarly, who used to be the S.J. Mercury News Giants beat writer, and now broadcasts and writes for CSN-Bay Area.  He had a blog last year that was excellent, called Extra Baggs, and now blogs for CSN-BA... click here to read his stuff.  It's very informative, lots of insider and breaking news, and he's a clever, insightful, and humorous writer as well.  Check out these "Snapshot Profiles" of the team that he wrote a couple of days ago to get a overview of who's who.


TIM LINCECUM – Strikeouts were down and walks were up last season; now he’s pitching to contact and scrapping his slider.

MADISON BUMGARNER – Ended up with 13-13 record after 0-6 start; determined to get out of the gate faster this time.

MATT CAIN – Earned his $112.5 million extension through consistency. He’s one of four pitchers with at least 20 quality starts in each of last four seasons.

RYAN VOGELSONG – Last year’s rotation ERA leader will begin on the DL, but stuff appears to be there and strained back has improved.

BARRY ZITO – There are 46 million reasons he’s still around, and they all have George Washington’s face on them.

Relief Pitchers

BRIAN WILSON – Throwing 95 mph in the spring, but his strained elbow will be watched carefully all season.

SANTIAGO CASILLA – Wicked stuff, hard fastball and bat-splintering curve make him an asset in late innings. He gets a little squirrelly in the ninth, though.

JEREMY AFFELDT – He has a scud curveball, keeps the ball in the park and is effective against right-handers, too.

JAVIER LOPEZ – Giants spent big bucks so this sidewinder could neutralize lefties for two more seasons.

SERGIO ROMO – Wildly effective strike thrower as long as his elbow isn’t barking. That’s when his famously Frisbee-esque slider tends to flatten out.

GUILLERMO MOTA – He has a rubber arm and knows how to use it – especially on the days that Zito pitches.

CLAY HENSLEY – A favorite of Bruce Bochy, he has the ability to work multiple innings and take the ball whenever needed.

DAN OTERO – Graduated from Duke University in three years. This 27-year-old rookie has smarts on the mound, too.

Position Players 

BUSTER POSEY – Looked great at the plate and behind it this spring. Catcher’s mask? Check. Chest protector? Check. Shinguards? Check. Halo? Check.

HECTOR SANCHEZ – He’s a switch hitter with power from both sides, so he’ll be handy to have on the bench and will boost lineup on days Posey plays first base.

BRANDON BELT – A patient and dangerous hitter, he’s not a finished product. But Bruce Bochy must give him the chance to make adjustments against big league pitching.

RYAN THERIOT – No longer a defensive dynamo, but he knows how to work a tough at-bat late in games.

BRANDON CRAWFORD – The Giants’ first homegrown opening-day shortstop since Royce Clayton in 1996 (non-Bocock category).

PABLO SANDOVAL – He was seventh in NL MVP balloting in 2009. With corrected vision in left eye and a full season, he might finish higher this year.

EMMANUEL BURRISS – Hasn’t hit nearly enough to warrant being an everyday player; most likely to contribute in super-utility role.

AUBREY HUFF – It’ll be a water buffalo, not a giraffe, in left field. He won’t hang onto everyday playing time if he hits .240 again, though.

MELKY CABRERA – Balanced switch-hitter might not achieve 200 hits again, but he’ll be motivated entering his walk year.

ANGEL PAGAN – Slow starter lived up to his reputation with a brutal spring. Like Cabrera, he’s motivated as he gets set for free agency.

NATE SCHIERHOLTZ – Lost the right field job with an uninspiring spring. Must reestablish himself.

BRETT PILL – Great “happy to be here” attitude and a powerful right-handed swing make him a good fit on this club.

GREGOR BLANCO – Non-roster invitee was the surprise of the spring. He’s an on-base wizard who could be the everyday leadoff hitter before long.

So here's where it stands, by our reckoning, at the moment.  Los Gigantes are gonna start the season carrying twelve pitchers. Plus eight position players and a back-up catcher, that leaves four precious positions to fill on the 25-man roster.  So to fill those four slots, you've got a fourth outfielder, a back-up 1st baseman, and two back-up middle infielders.  So we think.

I'm goin with Blanco, Pill, Fontenot, & Theriot.  Spring Training isn't quite over yet, but it's looking like the opening day starting line up (not including the pitching rotation, obviously, which needs no introduction or discussion, and admittedly we here at The Pitch & The Diamond are noticeably giddy about the prospect of Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain, and Vogelsong as our 1 2 3 4...) 'twill shake out thusly: Posey catching (most excellent), Huff at first (for better or for worse), Burriss at 2nd (Freddy's not quite rehabbed and ready yet, but Manny's ever so versatile and playing better than ever and honestly he's won the job), Crawford at SS (very exciting - and now he's found his bat? very exciting indeed) Pablo at 3rd (love the Panda, -relatively- slim and trim), Pagan in LF (only because Sabean and Bochy invested in him and oh! how they do love their veterans, but if it was me, I'd take Blanco as the starting LF), Cabrera in CF (he's been holding up his end of the bargain), & Schierholtz in RF (he's earned it these past few years, and he knows the nooks and crannys of RF @ AT&T like no one else, plus, he's got that cannon of an arm.  And he can hit enough to contribute.)  

So you're probably wondering, at this point, "What about Brandon Belt?"  Well, now, personally, we'd take Belt over Huff as our starting 1B, because Belt is young, talented, highly skilled and has played well in Scottsdale this year, but as previously mentioned (and touched upon in previous posts) certain managers like to lean on their veterans; plus, once you've dropped some cheddar on a player, you kind of have to play 'em.  And Huff's makin $10M a year.  Which is alot for a player of his history and calibre; It's an investment, we suppose. Hopefully Huff won't have quite as long of a leash this year as he did last year, because you've got Pill as a potential breakout player (at the ripe ol' age of 27, no less) AND Belt, the franchise 1B of the future absolutely rippin it in S.T. this Spring; they're both nippin' at his heels.  (Our dream would be: Belt at First on opening day with Pill as the back-up 1B, but that's just not how it's gonna shape up.)  And yeah, Huff hasn't embarrassed himself this year, there's no crime-scene athletic-tape outline in LF or anything, but still.  Believe in the future already.  Anyway, Belt goes down to AAA because it's a way better way to start the season for him (he was our opening day 1B last year, after all, and we all know how that panned out) and to be perfectly honest, he's more valuable as trade bait if he's crushing it in Fresno, rather than flailing in SF.  And as much as I love the Baby Giraffe and I'd hate to see him go, if the 2B conundrum doesn't resolve, we just might need some trade bait before the all-star break.  Of course, the same thing goes for our excellent AAA backstop Hector Sanchez (switch-hitting catcher extraordinaire) -- but inevitably, in spite of their skill and youth and hearts a flame, both Belt and H. Sanchez will be there, in AAA, waiting for the call up.  It's where they belong for now, and believe us, if we could have it different, we'd line 'em up in Arizona on April 6th.  But unfortunately, we're not managing Los Gigantes.  Tis a shame, and we suffer mightily for it.  

So then there's the 2B conundrum: Will Freddy Sanchez be healthy and strong and throwing at 100% come May?  Or even June?  We can only hope.  But in the meantime, we've got Burriss, who has been part of the franchise for, what six years now?, and has contributed mightily in the past (sure he's made some egregious errors here and there, but over all, we love his stout heart, pure athleticism, positive attitude, and fighting spirit) and he's apparently made some adjustments at the plate that have improved his swing considerably this year.  He's hitting remarkably well.  Then there's Theriot, who seems somewhat neutered and hasn't played well at the big league level this spring, undisirregardless of the fact that he won a WS ring with St. Louis last year, but he's now a bit hobbled with a couple minor, nagging injuries (not a good way to start off the season.) And then there's Fontenot, who has proven himself as a Giant, knows the system and is a journeyman and a professional.  (Also, there's Arias, but he was never going to make the team, although he has turned some heads and should be around in the future.)  So the job goes to Burriss, and you hedge your bets by keeping both Theriot and Fontenot, cus hey, Theriot is a quality player that can play multiple positions, just like Fontenot, and hey, who knows what injuries await us in the future... it's a very complicated position to be in to fill the position of Second Base, given our position, positionally speaking.  Second Base is a sticky wicket, sure, but do we really need two backups?  Probably not, but you never know.  Management does so love their vets.  

As for the fourth outfielder, it's gotta be Gregor Blanco, hands down as he's beginning to look like he's gonna steal the position from Pagan (Angel Pagan being one of our big off-season acquisitions, as a lead-off hitter) and even though Blanco came seemingly out of nowhere to light it up, Gregor is looking like the real deal.  Pagan was in an 0-24 slump at he plate in the last couple weeks, and we know that Spring Training is all about working out the kinks, but if he's our lead-off hitter and doesn't get on base, we're in trouble.  (Andres Torres 2011 all over again...?)  Blanco, by contrast, has been hitting around .350 in Spring Training, and I'd like to see him make the roster, as he could be a huge impact player.  As you may have gathered, we prefer to let the kids stay and play and pave the way to the shining future, day by day.  We favor the young.  Let the kids get some experience, let's believe in their innate talent, and let's give 'em a bloody chance.  We love redemption stories, underdogs, and gnarly, grizzled veterans beating the odds as much as the next guy, but we're overly ready round these parts here for some young bloods to shake things up.  Unfortunately, what we want and what we get are rarely one and the same in Baseball, so Pagan in LF and Huff at 1B... well, it is what it is.  Hopefully they'll surprise us.

At any rate, yes, we're very excited for this season, we are indeed.  And it looks like the NL West might be a challenging division, to boot.  Well, it always is for The Giants, and we've struggled against teams in our own division in recent years.  Colorado and Arizona, they'll put up a fight, at least.  (Oh oh, and don't even get us started about the $2.1B sale of the Dodgers yesterday.... <barf> There's no way in the world that the Dodgers are worth Two Billion dollars, more than any other sports franchise on the planet.  They're worth half of that at best, we think.  And yeah, they're gonna spend money like it's goin out of style come free-agency next year, but it takes more than a wheelbarrow full of money to win championships.)  I'm not particularly worried about the Dodgers or the Padres.  Still, we simply can not wait for opening day (just one week away!) or the home opener on the 13th... Oh Yeah!!  Let's Go Giants!!

Well and So.  As Spring Training for Los Gigantes winds it's wily way through the sticky wickets of Player Selection, Arsenal continues an historic run towards an unexpected Third (or possibly even Second) Place finish in the wild and wooly EPL, and both sides wend their way through the wilderness of wonderful sport as the wicked and willful wind tosses their ships about upon the waves.  Wow, that's alot of W's.  So, to recap, Arsenal has, in the last two months, experienced a sort of rebirth, a rejuvenation, a renaissance of spirit, if you will, in that they've been playing cracking football and they're in tremendous form, they're riding high on a streak of seven wins in a row, they've closed a ten point gap (a huge deficit, nearly impossible to overcome) with Spurs (our despised rival) and have, in fact, just in the last week overtaken Spurs for Third Place in the league.  Awesome.  Arsenal have come from behind to win in four successive League Matches (a feat that's never been done before in the English Premiere League) and -most importantly- they're showing a never-say-die attitude and a willingness to win and a quality of spirit and belief that we haven't seen in years.  'Tis Most Excellent, Indeed.  We here at The Pitch and The Diamond are thrilled, needless to say, but we're not getting ahead of ourselves, not succumbing to hubris, not thinking that the season is a done deal (what with Eight Games left, how could we?) and definitely not crowing and preening like some over-wrought bower bird, flashing his (admittedly gorgeous) plumage and drunk on his own (admittedly intoxicating) success.  And yet, successful as we have been, and in the most impressive fashion at that, we do feel a familiar sort of Pride in our recent run of form.  And we feel confident in expressing our Pride.  The last Seven League games have been won thusly:
February 4th: vs. Blackburn Rovers, 7-1.  A sound thumping, a tremendous show of power and skill and beauty, a harbinger of the exciting potential that we possess as a team.   Up until this point, we'd been struggling a bit in the league, what with a string of injuries to our defense and three unfortunate losses and a draw in January, but this resounding win reminded us of who we are and what we're capable of.  Also, it was really fun to watch.  Seven goals?! Awesome.
February 11th: vs. Sunderland, 2-1.  It's always a difficult match, away to Sunderland, in that they play a very rough and tumble, physical sort of football, and their home pitch is not very well maintained, and they play with determination and grit.  It was a tough match, but we fought through til the end, and secured a positive result.  Theirry Henry secured a vital victory with a late winning goal, and although it was a grind and took a bitter toll (we lost Per Mertesacker to a freak injury), it showed that we could fight through til the end and win in challenging circumstances.  We came from behind after going down a goal in the 70th minute, and displayed a mettle that we'd been previously lacking.
February 26th: vs. Tottenham, 5-2.  And this was, we think, the turning point in the season.  Tottenham Hotspurs are our North London rival, and this particular fixture is one of the most highly anticipated events of the year.  This match was remarkable in that Spurs went up two goals in the first forty minutes, and it was looking fairly bleak for us.  But then we dug deep, reached way down into the depths of our souls, and found the resolve we'd always known we had.  We scored two goals to draw even in the last five minutes of the first half, the first a powerful header by Sagna, the second a beautiful curling shot from Van Persie.  We then went ahead six minutes into the second half and never looked back.  Two more from Theo Walcott would make an emphatic statement that we were not to be underestimated, and that we are, and always will be, the dominant team in North London.  Brilliant.  Superb.  Wonderful.  Jubilant.  Joyful.  And that doesn't even come close to capturing it.  Bloody Brilliant, indeed.
March 3rd: vs. Liverpool, 2-1.  Another thrilling come-from-behind victory, even though admittedly Liverpool was the better side, creating more chances and playing better football on the whole.  But we kept fighting til the very end, never giving up, and grinding out another success with a tremendous last minute Van Persie volley.  Perhaps Liverpool should have scored three or four, but they've had great difficulty scoring goals this year, and in the end we persevered and secured a massive win.  Sometimes the better team loses, and we've been on the receiving end of that unfortunate circumstance far too many times.  So it was nice to benefit from the twist of fate, not least because Liverpool features Luis Suarez, one of the most vile human beings to ever play the sport of football.  Karma?  We think not, but it's terribly satisfying to see someone so awful lose to a team so wonderful. 
March 12th: vs. Newcastle, 2-1.  Again, a last gasp of a goal and yet another come-from-behind victory in stoppage time with a shocking winner from Vermaelen, our rock-solid central defender.  Previously in the match, Newcastle went ahead with a terrific strike, but less than a minute later we equalized on a bit of magic from (who else) Robin Van Persie.  And again, we fought hard until the very dying embers of the match, and proved ourselves to be unrelenting.  It was a highly deserved win, and that made it four matches in a row in which we'd come from a losing position to win, a feat that's never been done before.  Now we're showing our true colors.
March 21st: vs. Everton, 1-0.  We showed our fortitude yet again with a hard-fought win over a tenacious side, and with Tim Howard (the US National Team's starting goalkeeper) playing for Everton, it's never a foregone conclusion at Goodison Park.  Another Thomas Vermaelen goal, another grind, another victory.  And with this win, we rose above Tottenham to move into Third Place in the league.  We should explain that Spurs had been playing excellent football all year, and in January it was beginning to look as though we might finish below them in the table for the first time in seventeen years.  It was being said that Spurs were fielding the best team in fifty years (!) and we were floundering about with the worst team in two decades, and yet, and yet... we thrashed them 5-2 and then closed a ten point gap in a just over a month.  And we did with heart, spirit, determination, and True Grit.  We are The Arsenal.
March 24th: vs. Aston Villa, 3-0.  Admittedly, not a terribly challenging match, as Villa has been playing shite football all season and never really tested us, but still.  Seven wins in a row is seven wins in a row.  And it is awfully fun to win.  Notably, the last four goals we've scored at Everton and against Villa were scored by four different players, none of whom are named Robin Van Persie.  This is important because RVP carried us through the early part of the season, as seemingly the only player we had that could put the ball in the net, and when darkness crept in from the fringes and doubt shrouded our thinking, he kept hope alive.  So it's heartening to see the team effort paying dividends as a variety of players score goals.  

So now, hopefully, we can continue our excellent run of form.  The point here is that we play with conviction and with the belief that we can win, against all odds, with our backs to the wall, in the darkest hour, no matter what the conditions may be.  When we play to the best of our ability, we can go toe-to-toe with any team in the world, and it all comes down to one thing: Heart.  We play with a Stout Heart, and we absolutely believe in ourselves.  'Tis a wonderful world, and winsome indeed to witness such winning ways.

It is Indeed Glorious to be a Gooner.  C'mon Arsenal!!

'Nuff said.   Buster is Back.   And we're ridiculously excited.

And so it begins again, with the San Francisco Giants returning from the offseason healthy, happy, and ready to strive for another championship.  We love Spring Training, what with the mix of veterans, rookies, faces old and new, all vying for a spot and honing their weaponry... The ace pitching staff returns more or less intact, we've got a few new bats in the outfield that will provide some much needed offense with Angel Pagan & Melky Cabrera (we won't get into how poor our offense was in 2011, but suffice to say we had the worst run total in all of baseball last year... yet we still finished the season only four games out of the playoffs, a huge credit to our pitching staff) but most importantly, Buster Posey returns in fine form, looking like he's back to full health.  Yes, he'll contribute significantly on the field, but we think it's a tremendous mental asset & a huge confidence booster for the team to see him back out there.  When we lost him in the end of May last year, it felt like all the air was sucked out of the room.  Personally, we were depressed for weeks.  But he has been exceptionally diligent in his rehabilitation over the past ~9 months, and it's very, very exciting to have him back out there.  Also, The Panda looks relatively trim, leading us to believe that he took his off-season exercise regimen seriously and has realized the benefits of staying in shape, Wilson looks to be ultra-fit and back in the zone, Brandon Crawford is looking like our de facto starting shortstop (which we thought should have been the decision last June, as a gold glove calibre SS is crucial for a team that relies so heavily on pitching, since preventing runs is just as good as scoring 'em) and Nate Schierholtz is healthy and back in Right Field, ready to use that cannon of an arm and his lightning speed on the basepath.  We had such an awful year in 2011 in regards to injuries, using the Disabled List 25 separate times (that's ALOT) and relying on some roster patches that didn't hold up well (Miguel Tejada, Orlando Cabrera -aka the other, lousy Cabrera-, & Carlos Beltran, none of whom really panned out) and so we struggled mightily with our bats.  But it looks like everything is back in place, and this team should give the NL West, and all of MLB for that matter, a great show.  The first game of Spring Training is tomorrow at noon; you can bet we'll be listening on the radio! 

As for our beloved Arsenal, we're in a very tenuous position at the moment.  Since the last post, we've been mercurial in our quality, having matches where we look unbeatable, and then crumbling miserably and crashing in a burst of flames.  Immediately after the last post, we thrashed Blackburn 7-1 (the equivalent in American Football would be a score of 45-7 or so) and then a week later, beat Sunderland 2-1.  Both great matches, and it was awesome to see Thierry Henry out on the pitch.  And then, alas, we went to Milan for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16, and got thumped 4-0.  It was disastrous, and then we immediately returned to England and lost 2-0 to Sunderland in the FA Cup (multiple different competitions are played simultaneously in top flight football.)  Both of those losses were excruciating, but then, miraculously, we rebounded to absolutely destroy Tottemham Hotspur 5-2 last Sunday.  The joy of decimating Spurs is singular; Gooners absolutely hate Tottenham.  The rivalry between Arsenal and Spurs is one of the greatest and most intense in all of English Football; both teams are from North London, both teams (at least at present) have a similar style of play, and both teams have a ridiculously passionate fan base, although theirs is remarkably smaller and less robust, and we sing, drink, and carouse with much greater aplomb.  And we're far better looking.  Spurs (or, as we prefer to call them, Spuds) have historically been the also-rans to Arsenal over the last hundred years or so, very occasionally finishing ahead of Arsenal in the table, but almost always ending the season behind the Arse.  And Spuds haven't won the title since they won it once, and only once, in 1961, a fact that we're all too happy to remind them of, in song, on a regular basis.  The Arsenal, by contrast, have won the league 13 times, in almost every decade since the thirties.  However, this year, the Spuds have fielded what is quite possibly the best team they've had in 50 years (they were admittedly the better team throughout the 60's, but we don't think about that period much, and it was a long, long time ago) and they're widely believed to be closing in on a top-four finish, which means a Champion's League berth in 2013 and most likely finishing above Arsenal for the first time in almost two decades.  Or so the pundits like to say.  BUT we were down 2-0 at 40', losing the match just before half time, and it was looking like the end of Arsenal's season for all intents and purposes, but we somehow found the resolve and the will to score 3 goals within 13 minutes of play, which shifted the momentum of the game, mangled their spirits, and hopefully turned the tide of our respective seasons as well.  And then came two more goals from Theo Walcott for a remarkably strong victory.  We absolutely whipped them, crushed them, broke their spirits and won the match with resounding emphasis, and hopefully they'll crumble against Manchester United on Sunday.  Arsenal has a match this weekend against a strong team, meeting Liverpool tomorrow morning at 4:45am, and it'll be a tough one, but we can do it.  Every match at this point is crucial, because our momentum is tenuous; if we keep winning, we'll have a good chance of finishing in the top four, but if we lose, the tide could turn and we may falter.  It's nerve-wracking, honestly... So C'mon Arsenal!!  Let's do this.

...the SF 49ers are in it to win it this year, and we fancy their chances, plus we'll be watching the NFL Championship game on Sunday at 3:30, so here it goes.  (And we promise to focus on the Gigantes and the Arsenal in future posts, but Baseball's out of season, and we're saving the Arsenal posts for our future epic analytical adventures...)

As previously stated, we're not huge NFL fans, but we do follow the sport, and the way we see it, it comes down to another more-or-less-even Offensive (NYGiants) v. Defensive (SFNiners) matchup, and Defense wins in the postseason, or so the Collective Wisdom goes.  If the Niners force multiple turnovers and put up 30+ points again, which they can certainly do, we'll win.  We see the respective advantages by category thus:

SF NINERS
Defensive Line
Special Teams
Frank Gore 
Rush Defense
David Akers

NY GIANTS
Offensive Line
Receiving Corps
Eli Manning
Victor Cruz

...so we guess it depends on who shuts down who.  Can the Niners Defense handle the strength of New York's aggressive Offense?  It looks like most of the categories above roughly cancel each other out, and that leaves the NINERS with the edge due to Akers & Special Teams.  New York will likely dominate the air attack, but that's not the whole story.  Yes, the NYGiants might look a bit better on paper: Manning is a better Quarterback and Victor Cruz is incredibly talented, our placing the D-Line in SF's column might be up for argument and the Niners secondary can be inconsistent, but there's one element we left off the list, the importance of which is often minimized in statistical analysis (simply because it's unquantifiable): Team Spirit.  We know it's cheesy and some people don't believe in it, but we also know from personal experience on the pitch and on the diamond as players that a bunch of guys (or gals) that truly believe in each other and fight for each other will always win over a couple of superstar hotshots.  (Or, in this case, the superstar hotshot's slightly less talented brother.)  Especially if either Charlie Sheen or Walter Matthau is involved, and Disney gets a production credit, well, then obviously the plucky underdog gets the edge.  Now, if you're talkin bout the World Champion 2010 San Francisco Giants, Team Spirit and the vibe in the clubhouse meant everything.  (But we'll save that for yet another future Post.)  So always remember...
SF Believes in SF and sometimes, that's just enough.  GO NINERS!!

Hello there.  So, those of you who know us know all too well that a few of the Brazillionaires are a bit sports-crazed at times, most notably on weekend mornings around 7:00am... Joe, in particular, can veer towards madness when his teams do remarkably well (or tragically poorly).  As a group, our number one team is, of course, the San Francisco Giants.  We like to go to Giants games during the season, follow all the action, share season tickets, talk about Baseball, and some of us even listen to games on the radio (oldschool-style!) and go to Spring Training in Scottsdale as well.  You could say that we're fans.  We also strongly favor Arsenal, an English Football (aka Soccer) Team, and you may have noticed that quite a few of our photos and live performances feature jerseys and kits from our teams... anyway, we just thought it'd be a nice change of pace to blog about Sports, and Joe thought that "The Pitch & The Diamond" had a catchy ring to it.  There'll also be various ruminations on other Sports topics in addition to focusing on Baseball & Soccer, and perhaps even some remarkably off topic Posts, but we'll try to keep it on point (i.e. Giants and Arsenal) and maintain a certain level of cleanliness, specifically in regard to language.  Sports can get a bit dirty, after all.  Hope you enjoy the read!