Philly Boy Roy

Longtime Astros ace Roy Oswalt accepted a trade to the Phillies today, and I can't see anything to criticize here. It's all good.

Sure, had they re-upped Cliff Lee for the season maybe this move would not have been necessary, but putting that aside this deal looks pretty sweet.

The Phils get a bonafide all-star caliber pitcher, creating a great 1-2-3 rotation with Halladay and Hamels going down the stretch of the season and hopefully into the playoffs. And the Astros, for some reason, agreed to pay almost half of Oswalt's salary for this season and next — thanks Ed Wade!

We gave up J.A. Happ and some low level minor leaguers, but I'd call that a good deal. Whatever back issues Oswalt has, I feel a lot better going into a playoff game with Oswalt on the hill. If the Phils had to give up a stud first base prospect then no biggie — we have that Ryan Howard guy for a while.

Former Great Sports Debate stalwart Jayson Stark has the details here.

One downside for Oswalt is that he won't be able to wear those awesome retro Astos jerseys anymore.



UPDATE: The minor leaguers going from Philly to Houston were outfielder Anthony Gose and shortstop Jonathan Villar. So the Phillies did not give up highly rated first base prospect Jonathan Singleton.

Opening a stadium of whoopass

Now, that's more like it.

A packed house (in some sweltering heat) greeted the Philly Union in their opening game at PPL Park in Chester Sunday, and the team responded with the best result of their inaugural season, besting Seattle 3-1.

At halftime, a win didn't feel so imminent as the familiar pattern of Philly outplaying an opponent — only to be trailing on the scoreboard — reemerged. This is all the more annoying when you fail to convert on a number of chances, only for your opponent to make good on their first — in the 44th minute — as was the case for the Sounders today.

But in keeping with their M.O., the Union kept fighting in the second half, and you had to think a goal would be the result at some point. And the goals did indeed materialize.

Philly tied the game when Sebastien Le Toux roofed a penalty kick after Alejandro Moreno was taken down in the box. They soon returned the favor to Seattle, giving up a penalty kick. But goalkeeper Chris Seitz saved a not-so-great shot from Sounders goal scorer Pat Noonan, and the Union had the momentum for the rest of the game.

A Philly corner kick went through about three players in the box before landing at the foot of Fred, who buried it for the go-ahead goal. And Danny Mwanga — despite it not yet being extra time — took a nice pass from Le Toux, then following up an initial shot to easily tap the ball in for a game-finisher.

If this is the kind of play we can expect from the Union at PPL Park — which is reasonable as they've pretty much played this way everywhere, offering consistent offensive pressure along with the occasional defensive lapse — they could actually make some hay in the Eastern Conference as they play at home in 13 of their next 20 matches.

Now with a home to call their own, the Union fans will be behind them.

NOTES:

— The new stadium looked pretty rad on TV, especially with the Delaware River and Commodore Barry Bridge in the background. Were you at the game? What were your impressions?

— Seattle and veteran U.S. international goalkeeper Kasey Keller might have been the game's best player despite surrendering three goals, because it could have been much worse. He made a few super saves. Old dude's still got it.

— I've always liked Seattle's Freddie Ljungberg since his EPL days, but that uneven, thinning-in-areas mohawk is a misstep, homey. What happened to the shaved head? It was good enough in your GQ days, wasn't it?

— Didn't bother with a write-up on the Union's loss away to the Kansas City Wizards in their last outing because, well, it was a mostly terrible game that the Union were completely terrible in. Despite the premier of the Union's all gold uniforms (Wooo!), they gave a lackluster performance (to put it kindly) and were never in it. I should note there's no way a professional league should allow games to be played at that high school facility Kansas City calls a home field. It was ridiculously small. I know they're building a stadium, but if you can't provide a major league facility then you should have to play all road games.

World Cup

I watched the game Ghana and Serbia this morning and was completely entertained. I also folded all my laundry and sorted and wrapped $200.00 in loose change. I can see why soccer is so popular: like baseball, a spectator can easily half follow the action while spending the rest of the time drinking, singing, and socializing with other fans. Well that and the whole low barrier to participation, the whole Pele started playing with grapefruits in the streets of Brazil meme. Anyway in the game I watched, Ghana won because a Serbian defender inexplicably committed a hand ball in the penalty area, and Ghana’s converted the ensuing penalty kick.

While I won’t pretend to know much more about soccer than what my prepubescent self learned while playing the “beautiful game” on South Jersey “pitches” during the early 1980s, I do know how to make knee jerk judgments based mostly on appearance and ethnocentricity. Hence here is a guide to some of the star players who will be appearing the 2010 World Cup- based on Sportales list of ten best soccer players in the world.

Lionel Messi
I know this dude plays for Barcalona and basically jukes defenders out of their jocks. He also has the stereotypical swarmy, long hair, European crybaby footballer look, even though he is from Argentina. While he does indeed have the look, I am sure the guy must be tough because if I was the coach of some low level opponent I’d encourage hard tackles plus the occasional forearm to Messi’s head all match long. I also like to think that this dude has not produced in international competition like he does in club football, but that is probably wishful thinking. Here is Messi rocking out to Pearl Jam and scoring lots of goals

Cristiano Ronaldo
This guy plays for Portugal. Along with being a great soccer player he is famous for being handsome, diving, owning a fashion boutique and 2006 incident involving a Wayne Rooney red card in a Portugal-England game. Negative press form the incident might have been a reason for Ronaldo moving on from Manchester United to Real Madrid. That and 132 million dollars.


Zlatan Ibrahimovic
This guy plays for Sweden and not some Balkan nation. Not sure how he did not end up playing hockey, but a 15 year old Ibrahimovic did chose soccer over working on the docks, which was a great career move. Dude is tall and has some sweet skills and can speak 5 languages. He also trademarked the name Zlatan so don’t go and try and call yourself that when opening a set down at the bar.


Steven Gerrard
This dude is the captain of England (after former Captain John Terry was removed for boning a teammate's wife) and scored in the game versus the United States. He is apparently a diving hypocrite.


Samuel Eto'o
This guy is the captain of Camerroon and scores a million goals. He also doesn’t like it when small boys steal his shoes.


Kaka
This Brazillian midfielder and Armani model loves soccer, but he loves Jesus even more. He is the soccer equivilant of Tim Tebow.


Xavi & Andres Iniesta
These dudes play for Spain. One is the “playmaker” and one is going bald.


Frank Lampard
An English midfielder who is supposed to be very smart, but not smart enough not to have been caught on video engaged in what is termed “roasting”, which is some sort of team building exercise where soccer players have communal sex with women.


Fernando Torres
Spanish Striker, Bjorn Borg look a like and star of a video for the Spanish Three Doors Down. I seem to remember this guy rolling around on the ground a lot during that tournament in South Africa last year.


Wayne Rooney
The English striker did not make list but many people say he is great. Rooney looks more like a typical hooligan than player, which is probably one of the keys to his popularity. Rooney plays club football for Manchester United, who suck for all the same reasons the NY Yankees suck. Here is a great video mashing up British icons Rooney and the Beatles.

Oh well

What the hell was Leighton doing?

Overall though, the first line - Richards, Gagne, and Carter - are the real goats.

Leino, Hartnell, Briere, and Giroux (sorta) seemed to be the only ones to show up.

The Flyers played a brutal first period yet luckily came out tied. They played a less terrible second, even briefly held a lead, but went into the third down one. Then Chicago dumbly went into the shell, the Flyers fought back, got a bounce and a tip by Hartnell, and sent it into overtime.

In overtime not much was really going on. Then there was a Flyers giveaway, then a bad clear, the puck is dumped down to Kane in the circle and he takes a bad angle shot that wins the Cup because Leighton is positioned for the shot like the puck was behind the net.

Sigh. Time to shave the beard.

Burned

The Chicago Fire are not a good team.

The fact that the Union lost to them does not bode well for Philly turning around their luck and marching up the standings after getting into a portion of their schedule heavily weighted with home games.

And yet, there may be hope.

Once again, the Union pretty clearly outplayed an opponent on the road, and yet lost the game, this time 2-1 to Chicago. If they can maintain that level of play at home in the new PPL Park, then maybe their fortunes will turn.

Two bad defensive plays basically cost the Union against the Fire. Defender Cristian Arrieta got too close to the Fire's speedster Patrick Nyarko out wide, and Nyarko went right around him to feed Baggio Husidic for an easy goal in the box early on. In the second half, midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi kicked the ball up the middle of the field instead of just clearing it out of bounds from inside the penalty area, and Chicago's Marco Pappa picked it off in tight quarters and scored.

The good news was Danny Mwanga — for the third straight game — scored in stoppage time, and goal keeper Chris Seitz played a very strong game with some great saves. Seitz looks like he's shoring his game up after a very rocky start to the season.

Terrible game

Chicago built on the momentum of how they finished game 4, dominated the first period, got 3 goals (2 of them the usual Chicago lucky ones) and the Flyers never recovered.

The Flyers finally showed up in the second, twice got to within 2 goals, but Chicago answered each time, once with an assist from the refs on a horrible "hooking" call on Pronger - putting your stick on the hip is not a hook by itself, you actually have to, you know, HOOK. I'll also mention the two high stick calls they missed that if called would have given the Flyers a 5 on 3 in the third when they were back to within 2.

Also killer in this game was Richards doing what he could, but missing an open net (I even think the shot would have gone wide if Niemi didn't save it) and then Leino doing the same all on the same powerplay in the second. If they put those in the Flyers would have pulled to within 1.

If the Flyers have any hope of winning the Cup, the first line has to play a lot better, especially Richards. And The Captain has to buy some non-rubber sticks without holes in the blades. He was brutal in the offensive zone this game. Pronger also struggled, Briere didn't play that great, Coburn was awful in first and mediocre the rest. Leighton was bad, but not entirely at fault and Boucher did not make any "10 bell" saves that made a difference in the game. Only Leino seemed to be playing at a high level.

Need to play a lot better to get it to 7.

Dynamic win

Were you watching the Flyers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and Roy Halladay pitching a perfect game last Saturday? So was I, which is why I had to catch the rerun of the Union taking on the Dynamo in Houston.

And I'm glad it was rebroadcast because it was a damn good game.

Philly opened the scoring with one of the sweetest goals you'll see. Midfielder Shea Salinas outfought a Houston defender for the ball near the right corner, ran parallel to the end line toward the goal and then flicked the ball over the keeper with the outside of his boot — seemingly without looking.

Houston came back to score off two headers from free kicks, and led 2-1 with a half-hour remaining.

But Philly, as has been characteristic of the team all season, kept pushing for goals, and got one to tie the game from striker Sebastien Le Toux, who keeps on scoring for the Union.

Setting up Le Toux's blast from just inside the box was rookie midfielder and this year's first overall draft pick Danny Mwanga, a second half sub for Fred. And Mwanga wasn't done yet, either.

With the final whistle approaching, more than two minutes into extra time, forward Alejandro Moreno made a beautiful pass that sent Le Toux racing toward the penalty area. Nearing the end line to the right of goal, Le Toux cut back a pass toward the center of a congested box where Mwanga was waiting — and made no mistake in slamming the ball into the net. And that was the game.

Mwanga looked like the rookie he is in the team's opener at Seattle, but he now has a goal in his last two games and seems much more comfortable. Physically, the dude is a beast, so I think a lot more play like we saw against the Dynamo can be expected.

Very entertaining game overall and a great win for the Union as they continue their long road tour of the MLS. Some day they will have another home game. Actually, it will be June 27 when the Union hosts Seattle in the first game at brand new PPL Park. Until then it's two more roadies against teams directly ahead of Philly in the standings — at Chicago tonight then at Kansas City.

Flyers play great, fall apart, but hold on and win

I guess I'm supposed to be happy that the Flyers tied the series 2-2, but with the third period collapse they lost any chance of making Chicago doubt themselves, and that pisses me off. If they simply won 3-1 and shut down Chicago in the third, and continued to frustrate them they would have carried momentum into game 5. Instead Chicago gets some confidence from the comeback and now has home ice. Oh well.

///

Leighton was really good tonight and inspired confidence. He came through in the first when Chicago was outshooting the Flyers 9-4 and controlled rebounds really well for most of the game. He made some big saves late as well. Chicago's first goal was another lucky deflection off a Flyer, second goal was a 5 on 3, and the third goal was another lucky bounce off 2 Flyers. (How many goals have the Flyers deflected in for Chicago this series?)

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Richard's goal wouldn't have happened if the defenseman was a righty. Giroux's goal happened because Chicago decided to change lines as the Flyers were going into the offensive zone. Good move.

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Coach System did NOT call a masterful timeout this game. Could have used it in the third period.

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Pronger and Carle were really, really good. Carle's goal was reminiscent of the one he scored against the Rangers in the last game of the season. Way to go to the net. Krajicek and Bartulis are always shaky, but Krajicek saved a goal in the third.

///

I loved the lucky goal by Leino. About time the Flyers got a bounce off a Blackhawk that goes in. Congratulations on breaking the Flyers rookie playoff scoring record. But I don't get how he is a rookie, he played 13 games in 2008-09 for Detroit.

///

I wonder what Hartnell said. Idiot.

Flyers deserve to win and actually do

Since I embody Negadelphia, I felt it was all setting up again for another 1 goal loss and another scrub on Chicago getting the big goal. Just like last game the Flyers completely dominated the third period outshooting Chicago 15 to 4, but only capitalizing once on all their chances so it remained tied, 3-3 going into overtime.

In OT Gagne thought he had it won, but the puck hit the post and traveled right down the center of the goal line. The Flyers had already used up their lucky bounce off the same exact post in the second period on Hartnell's deflection of Pronger's shot. Then about a minute later Flyers came in on a rush started by Briere who passed to Carle who did one of those shot/passes to Giroux who nicely and somewhat luckily deflected the shot past Niemi for the Flyers first win in a Cup finals since 1987.

///

The Flyers have been coming at the Blackhawks especially late in these games. The Blackhawks just run out of gas. But Chicago just waits and generates probably 90% of their offense off of Flyers stupid giveaways and mistakes which are usually unforced. And it's how the Flyers managed to blow 2, 1 goal leads this game. Blackhawks first goal was Carter giveaway, second goal was from a bad faceoff and poor save, and third goal was a screw up by the defense giving Kane a breakaway. They didn't score because of extended pressure or dominating play.

///

You know who was brutally bad this game? Jeff Carter. He turned it over repeatedly and stupidly in the neutral zone or going into the offensive zone sending Chicago right back the other way on a rush. Carcillo also had a poor game. Coburn was -3, like in game 1.

///

Stars of the game for the Flyers include Giroux of course, Leino, Briere, Hartnell, Pronger and Carle. The penalty killing units of the Flyers were also excellent along with the power play. Just clean up the bad giveaways and they can win this thing.

Another "shoulda, woulda, coulda"

Flyers lost another game they could have won. But it's only the Stanley Cup, so no big deal. Leighton can't let Eager score that second goal. That was brutal and very Hextallesque. That was the game even though the Flyers dominated the third.

So just like game one, a scrub on Chicago scores the game winner while the Chicago stars Kane and Toews do nothing, and another opportunity squandered.

Way to seize the moment.

Flyers blow game one

Pathetic team defense and sub-par goaltending from Leighton are the reasons for the game one loss. The Flyers weren't even penalized (major miracle) and they found a way to blow 3, 1 goal leads, give up 6 goals total and lose. Flyers seemed hypnotized by the puck at times and asleep at others.

The players that were good were Hartnell, Briere, Asham, Pronger and Carle. Players that were struggling include Richards, who fought the puck all night and played like he had a hole in his stick, Giroux, Gagne, LaPerriere, and Coburn, who maybe should be in the next category. Players that were terrible were Parent and Leighton. Everyone else was decent I guess.

Need to be way better in game two.

Flyers are going to the Stanley Cup!

Olé!



Here are the clichés to get them over with at the start: redemption, improbable, defies logic, team of destiny, it's fate, so many story lines, left for dead, back from the dead, etc. Thing is, sometimes the clichés are true.

Montreal played their best, but it still wasn't good enough. Philadelphia was simply better. The sequence that probably best exemplified the series occurred at the end of game 4: Carter chipped the puck down the ice and it was slowly rolling toward the empty net, but Bergeron made an all out effort and at the last possible second saved the goal. But then just 30 seconds later Giroux out-battled the Montreal defense and scored the empty netter from his stomach to seal the victory. (it was also at this point that Pierre McGuire fell in love.)

You could see the same thing in tonight's game on Richards short handed goal to start the Flyers scoring and his effort on Carter's empty netter at the end. And I totally approve of him touching and lifting the Prince of Wales trophy. Flyers shouldn't be afraid of anything, especially superstition.

Here is the Stanley Cup schedule:
Game 1 at Chicago, Sat, May 29 8 p.m. ET
Game 2 at Chicago, Mon, May 31, 8 p.m. ET
Game 3 at Philadelphia, Wed, June 2, 8 p.m. ET
Game 4 at Philadelphia, Fri, June 4, 8 p.m. ET
Game 5* at Chicago, Sun, June 6, 8 p.m. ET
Game 6* at Philadelphia, Wed, June 9, 8 p.m. ET
Game 7* at Chicago, Fri, June 11, 8 p.m. ET

They can win this thing.

Shocking

Still in shock. This never happens.

This is exactly why sports are great. If you wrote the result of this series and this game as a script for a movie nobody would make it. Nobody comes back in a series from a 3-0 hole, losing their starting goalie halfway through, and win it 4-3. And nobody comes back in a game 7 down the same 3-0 to win by the same 4-3. It's too symmetrical. It's too preposterous and too corny even for Hollywood. But there was no script. I'm still having difficulties accepting this result. It goes against everything I previously held to be true.

Flyers came out with almost nothing in the first and quickly began self-destructing via stupid penalties thanks to Hartnell and Briere. The Flyers penalty killing had often been the best part of their game during the last part of the series, but it wasn't in the first period and they were quickly down 2-0. Then a few minutes later it was 3-0 and I thought the game was over, but I kept watching.

Then luck gave the Flyers a chance.

van Riemsdyk, who can't finish to save his life, finally scored his first goal in forever almost entirely by accident when his stick snapped and the puck somehow deflected off the defenseman and trickled under Rask's pad to make it 3-1. This put a little hope on the Flyers bench and a little crack in the Bruins confidence going into the intermission. If the Flyers could score early in the second...

Then the Flyers did score early in the second.

Hartnell, responsible for the first stupid penalty in the game, redeemed himself and picked up a Leino rebound and roofed a nice backhand shot from a tight angle. This seemed to stun the Bruins and propelled the Flyers for the rest of the period.

Then six minutes later Briere took a pass from Hartnell, raced into the zone and swept behind the net and banked a wrap around off a Boston defenseman into the net. Another lucky break and another guy redeeming himself since Briere took the second stupid penalty in the first. 3 to 3 and the Bruins were crumbling.

I'll just skip over the goal that wasn't a goal since it didn't matter in the end. But it seemed everyone but the NHL thought it was in, even Gord Kluzak on the New England Sports Network.

The first period was owned by the Bruins, the second was owned by the Flyers, and the third was more evenly matched with each team getting some chances and each hitting the post. But then with 11:10 to go the Bruins took a too many men penalty, the stupidest of all penalties, and they paid for it.

The Flyers 2 earlier power plays sucked. On their third opportunity they managed to actually get it set up, but played too deliberately. It looked like they were practicing giving and receiving passes. Then, as the opportunity looked like it would be wasted, Richards took a shot from the right circle, it got blocked and came to Gagne who in the blink of an eye put it on his forehand and flicked a bullet off the far post for the 4-3 lead. A beautiful shot. Flyers haven't lost since Gagne returned. He's been huge.

Then all the Flyers had to do was hang on for 7 minutes to "make history" and they did. The Bruins were in ruins.

Flyers fade in the third and lose to the Bruins.

Flyers start out a little slow but are awarded an early power-play when Wheeler gets the puck on a bad pass at the point and instead of shooting wide like he usually does, gets stripped and has to hook. The ensuing Flyers powerplay is weak, especially a play by Couburn where he skates into the zone and then just stops and waits and waits until he has the puck stripped and this leads to a Boston 2 on 1. Dump it in the corner if you have no play Couburn!

Flyers are dominating after the power play. Billy Lameo fans on a shot. He was set up in the middle of the slot. Lame. Giroux, Briere and Lameo have a good shift. Flyers follow with another good shift lead by JVR. 5 minutes into the game and the Flyers are carrying play.

Of course it is all for naught. Richards is waived out of the face off circle in a defensive draw. Hartnell loses the draw to Begin and Boychuck scores on a set play. Pretty good shot by Boychuck. Bruins start to carry the play now. Nodl with a bad defensive zone give away that leads to a Bruins scoring chance. Boucher looks sharp. Briere’s line has another good shift, but no one is going to the net.

Krijeck takes a holding penalty on Lucic. The Flyer’s penalty kill is okay, Boston had some opportunities. Rider looks sharp as a playmaker. Flyers are looking desperate, just throwing the puck around and on goal. They need to settle and try to create some plays instead of forcing it. Good speed shown by Lameo to get to a loose puck. Flyers are now trying real long passes and none are connecting.

Carcillo with a good hit on Begin, who looses his cool and high sticks Carcillo. Flyers start by losing the one on one battles on the power play. They have more men, that should not be happening! Briere comes out of the corner and there is a good scoring chance by him and Richards. But that is it on the powerplay. Hartnell looks drunk, he can’t accept a pass and is missing checks.

Bruins with some good pressure. The Versus camera shows the Boston dancing guy. He has a giant moustache instead of a giant gut like the Flyers dancing guy. Bad turnover by Boston leads to a Richards goal. Good shot by Richards and a nice pick by Briere on aid the captain. Richards, Lameo and Briere where on the ice- was this a line change or a switched up line?

Boston controls play for the rest of the period. The crowd is crying about phantom penalties. The period ends in a 1 to 1 tie.

Second Period

The Flyers are getting dominated early in the second period. They are running around and finally Hartnell takes a penalty. Matt Carle has a good shorthanded opportunity. The penalty kill is very good. Boston doesn’t threaten on the power play. Boucher makes a good save after the power play is over and Savard slashes him. Carcillo attacks him and Savard gets the only penalty. This is a strange call. Flyers have puck possession on the power play but no one is in front of the net. Somewhere Tim Kerr is pissed. Lameo keeps entering the zone with speed and making bad passes. The Boston crowd is fired up after the penalty kill. Betts and Asham are applying some pressure for the Flyers.

Asham probably should have gone off the ice (long shift) and instead the Burins gain possession in the Flyers zone, and some deft substitutions and puck movement set up Satan who scores 5 hole. Boucher probably should have stopped that shot.

The local commercial drop features the PA Lottery spokesgroundhog Gus in a rock band. Apparently the lottery is running out of ideas.

Back to live action and Richards wins a race to a lose puck and sets up Carcillo for a one timer that Raask saves.

Now there is an E-trade commercial with the baby mocking and adult who is engaged in the lowest form of gambling- scratch off lottery tickets. If Gus wasn’t on tour he would surely have kicked the baby’s ass.

I notice Briere is back on the wing this game after his awful defensive performance at center in game 1. Also Tam is no loner the coach of the Flyers.

Sobtka takes a holding the stick penalty on Richards. The Flyers look terrible on the power play and Boston has two good shorthanded chances. Lameo again with bad passes/turnovers as he enters the offensive zone. The puck is starting to bounce a lot as it gets later in the period. Asham tries a stuffer that looks more dangerous that it was. JVR follows seconds later with a good shot from the wing, but Raask is strong in goal.

Briere with a mistake as he enters the Boston zone and it leads to a Bruins chance the other way. Briere takes a hooking penalty. The Flyers penalty kill is great: zero chances for the Bruins. Also Recchi has been invisible thus far.

After the penalty Lameo finally makes a good pass as he enters the Bruins zone on a rush and Briere fires a great shot for a goal. 30 seconds are left in the period. That has got to kill the Bruins.

Period ends tied 2 to 2.

Third Period

The Flyers again with a slow start to begin the period. A fan on a break out pass leads to a good Boston chance. There are two good shots by the Bruins and two good saves by Boucher. The play starts to become more equal, but the Flyers take a stupid too many men on the ice penalty. There is good puck possession by the Bruins on their power play but no real scoring chances.

A bad play by Boucher handling the puck leads to Boston scoring opportunity and a Briere penalty. A strong save by Boucher to start the penalty kill. Great work by Giroux on the kill. The Bruins only had the one early chance.

Flyers are now icing the puck. Two times, three times. The Bruins are controlling play. The Flyers look tired. Lucic scores on a turnaround shot. You could see this coming for about 5 minutes. Flyers look wore out. Parent and Krejick were on the ice. Krejick has been weak this game.

Flyers manage some pressure with the goalie pulled. Pronger saves what looked like an empty net goal. Coach System calls the crucial time out. Boston counters with the Dropkcik Murphys. The entire crowd is singing along like a bunch drunk Southies. The Flyers win the last face off but the shots don’t get through. Bruins win 3-2.

Raask looks like an alien.

Freddie got angered

The story of the Philadelphia Union's fifth MLS game away to the L.A. Galaxy Saturday goes thusly: The Galaxy are one of the league's best teams, and the Union are not. As such, the Union got housed.

The Galaxy opened the scoring sheet less than a minute into the game — with Edson Buddle passing across the box to A.J. DeLaGarza, who easily put the ball in the corner of the net.

Buddle, the league's leading goal scorer who may be forcing his way onto the U.S. World Cup squad, added to his total with two in the game. The first was a second effort on a loose ball in the box off a corner kick. The second came on a rush, with Buddle nicely accepting a pass from Landon Donovan that was a little behind him, and firing a low shot just inside the left post.

As far as the Union goes, there were not a lot of positives. Their offense seemed off its game with striker Sebastien Le Toux out with a knee injury suffered against New York in a U.S. Open Cup match during the week. Veteran Alejandro Moreno has done very well for the club this season, but having him as the lone striker up top did not work at all against the Galaxy.

The Union's best player was Brazilian midfielder Fred who, commendably, seemed increasingly pissed off and aggressive as things went south for Philly, especially after midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi was sent off on a straight red card for a reckless challenge after play had seemingly been halted. (I think at this point in the season, Philly has played with 10 men as much as they have with 11.)

Late in the second half, Fred's hard work paid off when he stole the ball, charged straight at the Galaxy defenders and laid off a nice pass to 17-year-old forward Jack McInerney, who netted his first career goal.

Fellow Union rookie and second half substitute Kyle Nakazawa — who, unlike McInerney, had the decency to not be born in the 1990's — looked quite good on his debut with the team, especially in bending some Beckham-esque passes into the box off of free kicks.

Things don't get any easier for the Union as they next travel to reigning MLS champions Real Salt Lake.

NOTE: I didn't do a write-up for the Union's last game, a 2-1 loss to New York. Three plays pretty much told the whole story.

Seitz whiffed on a corner (in the process smashing Union defender Jordan Harvey in the face), and the Red Bulls scored. Moreno linked up with Le Toux on a beautiful low cross, and Le Toux scored. And Union defender Michael Orozco intentionally and stupidly knocked down a pass in the box with his hand, giving New York a penalty kick that they converted.

NOTE 2: If the Union are playing, but are not on ABC, ESPN or Fox Soccer Channel, then check the 6abc Weather Now channel, which on my system is Comcast channel 246. A couple of games have aired there already with a local broadcast, though there's been nothing in the cable guide saying so.