I've been a Survivor fan longer than I've been a Giants fan. So if I you asked me the Giants' chance of winning the World Series versus Marty Piombo's chance of lasting another week on Survivor: Nicaragua, I would have taken the obvious vote that the grand master from Mill Valley wold be heading home.

But the Giants cruised through the power-hitting Rangers and flew home with the title, capped off with a parade and celebration Wednesday. And Marty did some backdoor maneuvering that even CBS couldn't follow with its jungle cams.

"Dead man walking," Marty proclaimed himself, while Jane stated that "Marty is the biggest threat" on the island. 

If left alone in his La Flor tribe, it might have been all she wrote for Marty, but a tribal merge gave him new life and new relationships to move about his chessboard.  The merged final 12 looked for a new name, and Marty was honored to dub them Libertad, for freedom. What Marty didn't tell them is that Libertad is also a crater on the planet Mars, meaning war, and it was an all-out confrontation on multiple fronts that shaped this week's episode.

The merge brought food in a chest, representing the spoils of a war chest. NaOnka drew first blood as she sought redemption for her undervalued tortillas by pilfering the tribe's stores. Stealing the flour, fruit, pans and the even the kitchen sink, NaOnka said, "It was so good, like my booty." And with a loud, gaseous release, "It's so good." (I'm not against this woman, because it's clear she has entertainment value, but can we all just agree she needs to be taught some basic decency and table manners?)

Upon confessing the evils of her ways to the tribe, Marty exclaimed, "Na lied and she stole. She should be gone. How easy is that? But this is Survivor. It's never easy."

As the newly merged tribe struggled for a common voice, it was Marty and Alina who were on the chopping block, despite Jane's "cancerous tentacles" and NaOnka's thieving ways. In an endurance challenge very reminiscent of final challenges from seasons past, youth and strength defied logic, as the oldest woman and the youngest man won, making Jane and Fabio immune at tribal council.

While Jane strutted her stuff in a clear demonstration that she was out to beat Marty of all people, she said, "I may be little, I may be small, but there ain't no way ...in hell that you will beat me." As she rallied her troops around her for what seemed an obvious vote, Sash begged for a reprieve for Marty, stating that he had given his word in exchange for the Immunity Idol last week. 

At Tribal, Alina defended her continued value in the game by stating, "You don't pick someone who's a powerhouse [like Marty], you pick someone who's a pawn. I'm a pawn." It's ironic that Alina would use a chess metaphor as her last line of defense against the self-proclaimed Grand Master Piombo.

As Benry pointed out, Alina is a "dirt squirrel," and we all know what that means, don't we? 

In an astounding vote, Alina was swept away with a vote of 10-2, almost as easy as the Giants pitching dispatched the best-hitting team in baseball. With all respect to the Texas Rangers, they were no match for Tim the Freak and his merry band of beards.

Tune in next week as NaOnka let's her Freak Flag Fly, leaving Jeff Probst speechless, and this writer eager to see what happens next.