Bread And Circuses

Enough with the doom and gloom over perspective on sports. Back to the fun, with random sports thoughts and observations while watching the Giants-Dodgers on Sunday night:

1) We're finally going to a Major League Soccer game. Marina kept asking me why we haven't gone to an Earthquakes game, and I realized that I don't have a good answer. I love professional soccer. The Earthquakes are a professional soccer team. Logic dictates that I would love to see them play live. One could say that logic has no place in the emotion-driven world of sports fanaticism, but that wouldn't make sense. And so we bought tickets for next Saturday's match against Toronto FC.

2) I love Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff. I love the fact that they are both back on the team and in the lineup, and I love the fact that Brandon Belt is here and has already hit his first home run--and stole a base, too. I do not love the fact that our corner outfielders are Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff. That scares me from a defensive standpoint. The range will be limited. I'm looking forward for Cody Ross' return, although that could create a logjam of bats. Where do you put everybody to keep them in the lineup? This is why the designated hitter is such a luxury for the American League.

3) Barry Zito gave up three runs in the first inning, after recovering from an auto accident--a taxi ran a red light and crashed into him, fortunately leaving him apparently unscathed. After that first inning, the Sunday Night Baseball crew went on and on how he does not have good stuff anymore and how he will just have to try to keep the Giants as close as possible for as long as possible. The announcers have not mentioned that he is pitching much better after three innings. It's like the world has Zitophobia.

4) I'm excited that the Giants extended the contract of Freddy Sanchez through 2012. He was injured for the beginning of last year, but ever since, his defensive prowess has been a joy to watch, and he has been hitting. He knocked in three runs, including a home run, in yesterday's win, by way of giving instant reward for the Giants' investment.

5) Pablo Sandoval could be back to his 2009 form. He lost forty pounds over the summer, looks good, and smoked a home run in his first at-bat tonight.

6) Kuroda is looking good on the mound for the Dodgers. He hit Torres leading off, but Torres was stranded at second--a well-executed sacrifice by Sanchez was wasted when Huff and Posey did not come through. Other than that, Sandoval's home run has been our only hit through four innings. We need to make him work and get more hits.

7) Matt Kemp hit a home run in the first inning. Zito just made him look bad on a swing in the bottom of the fourth, and eventually got him to weakly fly out to center. Just goes to show how every at-bat and every game is different.

8) I think it's awesome that there is so much coverage for the West Coast to start the season. Normally, through the first four games, ESPN and Fox would have shown the Red Sox-Yankees play six times.

9) I used to like the Seattle Sounders in the MLS until I saw their two central defenders tag-team Chris Wondolowski in the box last night, denying him a chance to get to a cross. The referee really should have been in a spot to see it, but he seemed to have a difficult time of it last night. The game got ugly, and a rivalry was born. The West Coast of MLS could become interesting.

Also, Seattle-based Starbucks wants to buy Berkeley-based Peet's. That would be annoying.

10) There is a leisurely pace to baseball games. Not as leisurely as cricket, mind you--few things this side of snails are as leisurely as cricket--but still, if you can get past the need to live or die with every pitch of every single game, watching baseball can be quite relaxing. That's my goal for this year.

11) A friend of mine just got engaged to a sports fan from Ireland. By way of congratulating them, I will once more mention that Thierry Henry should be ashamed of himself, and the French collapse in the World Cup was an argument in favor of the existence of karma.