Nats 4, Marlins 7

GAWD what shambolic relief pitching we have. Can't keep a lead to save our lives. And what was Anderson Hernandez doing, swinging with the bases loaded, 3 and 1, at a clear ball four with a Marlins reliever who hadn't hit the strike zone ONCE?!?

And Flores hasn't seem to have been able to get a solid extra-base hit this season, something he was doing all the time last season, particularly in bases-loaded situations. Is he the only one that former hitting coach Lenny Harris was able to connect with?

Lessee what Jordan Zimmermann can do tomorrow...

Nats 6, Marlins 9

Whole lotta bile from this game, especially after the seven-inning gem that Josh Olson pitched, and Austin Kearns' four-bagger in the first.

Manny needs to switch Joel Hanrahan and Joe Beimel. I'm not sure if Joel has the stuff for a closer's role.

Nats 2, Marlins 3

AAAAAAARRRGH.

Johnny Lannan, ye are awesome.

Why the Nats bats couldn't help you out is a mystery.

And Manny Acta, you get tossed?!? It better have been for a good reason!

DCU 1 - New England 1

For Gawd's sakes, how many times was Chris Pontius open when Christian Gomez had the ball, and Gomito chooses to either run it up the middle or pass it over to a clogged left side?!?

One of the guys in my section was disgusted at the lack of good finishing by DCU despite multiple chances, and said the next practice he holds for his youth soccer team would be all about completing one's chances once you're in the box.

DCU should have won by three or four goals, despite that shambolic excuse for a three-man back line. Tom Soehn needs to go to a 4-4-2 if he wants to keep his job past July.

2009 Supporters Shield Watch Week 4

TEAM POINTS GP W L T GF GA GD

Chivas USA 10 4 3 0 1 6 2 +4
Seattle Sounders FC 9 4 3 1 0 7 1 +6
Chicago Fire 8 4 2 0 2 8 5 +3
New England Revolution 7 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2
Colorado Rapids 7 4 2 1 1 7 6 +1
Real Salt Lake 6 3 2 1 0 6 4 +2
Kansas City Wizards 6 4 2 2 0 6 5 +1
D.C. United 5 4 1 1 2 5 5 +0
Toronto FC 5 4 1 1 2 5 6 -1
San Jose Earthquakes 4 4 1 2 1 6 8 -2
Columbus Crew 3 5 0 2 3 5 9 -4
Los Angeles Galaxy 2 3 0 1 2 4 5 -1
Houston Dynamo 2 4 0 2 2 3 5 -2
New York Red Bulls 2 4 0 2 2 1 5 -4
FC Dallas 1 4 0 3 1 3 8 -5

MLS 2009 Supporters Shield Watch Week 3

Couldn't find it (this strange concept called a SINGLE TABLE) anywhere on the Internets (including MLS' own Web site), so figured I'd do it myself. Will try to do it upon the conclusion of every week of the season, and MOST CERTAINLY will frak it up from time to time (or even more often), so feel free to post any corrections in the comments section. Will continue it until either A) the end of the season, or B) the web folks at MLS finally get around to doing it themselves.

TEAM POINTS
---------------------------------
Seattle 9
Chivas USA 6
Colorado 6
New England 7
D.C. United 5
Chicago 4
Toronto FC 4
Real Salt Lake 3
San Jose 3
Columbus 2
Houston 1
New York 1
Los Angeles 1
Kansas City 0
FC Dallas 0

Quick Lax Post

I know, I know, what's a lacrosse post doing on a baseball/hockey/soccer blog, but I just had to get this off my chest (besides, the original name for this blog woulda been BaseLaxSoc if I hadn't been seduced by the Caps' 2007-2008 playoff run):

The Washington Bayhawks had their first home game this past weekend at GMU's stadium, with an attendance of more than 4,000. Their post-game press release states:

"The Bayhawks had an amazing turn out for their home opener at George Mason stadium and would like to give thanks to all their fans and sponsors for their support in attendance."

Ummm, well, DUHH. The Hawks had a similar attendance figure last year at their home opener at GMU, a number that they NEVER came close to matching in their subsequent games at Georgetown's Multi-Sport Field. 

The BEST decision this fledgling DC franchise could have made was to have ALL its games at GMU this season. Yes, it probably costs the team more to have games there, but one wonders where this team would be attendance-wise this year if it had played ALL its home games at GMU last year. Hopefully that won't have stunted the growth of the team's potential fan base.

Here's hoping the numbers only go up for the rest of the season, culminating in enough gate income to foster a deal with RFK next season. DCU fans might not like their field chewed up by lax games, but RFK is the logical next step for the Hawks, at least until (fingers crossed) the Poplar Point stadium opens.