jays 5-6 orioles

June 7, 2008.

This was another disappointing night for Jays fans everywhere. Leading 4-0 until the 8th, the Jays bullpen gave up six runs in one inning. Although, in the bottom of the eight, it looked like Toronto would manage to come back and tie the game, they woefully fell one run short and the game ended 6-5 in favour of the orange birds.

Problems. In this game, the offense was there throughout the game, though they failed miserably in the clutch. The bullpen, erg, dont get me started.

Shaun Marcum was the starter for the Jays. Pitching seven shutout innings before finally giving up one run in the eight. After giving up a hit to an Oriole, Marcum was replaced by Brian Tallett, who then proceeded to give up three runs on 2 hits. Marcum would be charged for one of the runs, as the runner who scored had gotten a hit off of him earlier. Tallet pitched 10 pitches, of which 4 were strikes. Then in came Armando Benitez who also was down on his luck that day. He gave up a solo shot to Kevin Millar, David Eckstein then allowed Luke Scott to reach base on an infield error, and Benitez got smacked for a 2-run shot by Adam Jones. His pitching line? 0.2IP, 2H, 3R, 2ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR. His ERA for the year? 5.68. Perhaps the Jays need to be a bit more selective with their approach to signing players. Remember, Benitez was signed immediately after his agent presented him to the Jays organization, well at least according to the news stories that came out.

Overall though, this loss just slots right in with all the others in what has been a truly woeful season for Jays fans thus far. Below .500, our roster once again riddled with injuries, our bats dead and our pitching suspect, quite frankly, I’d be surprised if any Jay made it to the All-Star game in July. At the moment of this writing, the most likely candidate would be 3B Scott Rolen, but his category has some touch competition.

So what is the problem? There are quite a few theories out there. Some say that the Jays are in a rebuilding stage. But, honestly, how can we be rebuilding when a good third of our starting lineup are signed on 1 year contracts. I say its just down to bad luck. In a mix of bad karma and the injury bug, the Jays are once again proving ineffectual, and it looks as if Jays fans will have to suffer another year of sub-par performance to rivals Bosox and NY. Bah.

toronto fc 1 - 0 dc united

BMO Field. Present with 19000 other fans, we watched TFC battle for their first victory over DC United shortly into the club’s second season, improving their record to 4-2-2 in the season and moving them into fourth place in the Eastern Division. This also extended their unbeaten record to the past six games, where they have notched up four wins and two draws. The only goal of the match would come in the seventh minute out of a goalmouth folly, during which Danny Dichio - who was long overdue for a goal - managed to pick up on a bad backpass and roll the ball into the net past the charging DC keeper. Dichio has started off the season on the wrong foot, only netting one goal in seven games on the season. Yesterday’s tally would bring him to a total of two, a far cry from what is generally exepcted of the team’s leading striker

To be honest, it was a game of three phases. The first phase was the first fifteen minutes of the game, where TFC - riding the momentum from their early goal tried for another - and where DC tried to get themselves back in the game. Their best chance came when Quaranta found himself alone to the ball to the right of the TFC goal, but saw his shot blocked by a sliding Tyrone Marshall.

The action wouldn’t last though, as TFC shut down and began to play a defensive game, putting men behind the ball and doubling up their marking on any attacking DC player and clearing the ball towards the general direction of the opposing net. TFC would not manage any more SOGs during the first half, although they would manage to blaze two more shots wide of the DC net. Although TFC would pass the ball well, they never managed to find the touch that would spring forwards Guevara and Dichio and wingers Robert and Ricketts did not do a whole lot with their possession. End first half.

The second half started off the same way as the first one ended. TFC would play possession football, whilst attempting the occasional searching pass for the forwards and the wingers. DC would then take possession and lead a wild counterattack, usually resulting in another turnover of posession and the cycle would begin all over again.

In the last thirty minutes of the game however, the pace of gameplay changed. DC pressed forward, pushing the TFC defence to the limits - DC midfielder Marcelo Gallardo crossed for Fred who managed to head the ball straight into a parry by keeper Greg Sutton. Fred’s follow up shot on the rebound was deflected wide by a quick thinking TFC defender. Shortly afterwards, Sutton would have to make a leaping catch to prevent a Jaime Moreno curving shot - which had initially deceived him, causing him to step out from his line - from tucking itself under the crossbar.

Then came the period of the TFC counterattack. Pressing forward to capitalize on DC’s offensive formation, TFC drove forward down the wings, creating space and crossing low into the sixteen. Unfortunately, no TFC strikers were in position to receive these crosses and they ended up in the arms of the DC keeper, or out the other end of the sixteen. There was much sitting and standing of the crowd during these last few minutes.

Throughout the game, the defence would clear to either the wings or look for Dichio up front. Dichio would execute some technically spot-on flick ons, but there would be no one to receive them, as he had no support. The wingers would receive the ball, drive towards the corner flag, cross the ball and find no one on the ends of it. It all comes down to the fact that nobody is driving forward, playing with one man up front just is not the way to go. Superhuman as Dichio has been portrayed as, he can’t be everywhere at once and running around for ninety plus minutes is quite tiring. Without support, there is only so much that you can do.

Overall, it was a good game of football I suppose. You push forward, get the goal you need, then hang back and defend. It works sometimes, as last night bears witness. But most of the time, it turns out to be a dull tactic. Allowing the other team to constantly apply pressure on your defence, leads the former to eventually find a gap and the latter to tire considerably. TFC has been criticized for lacking the offensive touch, perhaps its a problem with their tactic.

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On another note, the Marlies won 6-1 to stave off elimination and the Jays managed to lose another game and failing to score with runners on base.

new stuff coming soon

self-explanatory…

Toronto FC 3 - 1 Chicago Fire

 

 

David Dichio, number 9 of Toronto FC will definitely be remembered in what is going to be the long history of the football club that is Toronto FC. Scoring the club’s first goal in the 24^th minute, getting sent off in the 45^th for a “violent confrontation” with Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens and finally, being named Man of the Match was the three notable achievements of the man during the 90 minutes plus the ridiculous ten minutes total of extra time played. However, ultimately it would be Kevin Goldwaithe ( who would score both the club’s second goal and the game winner and Maurice Edu (6) with the club’s third goal and game sealer. It would take 384 minutes, a new MLS record – if I’m not mistaken – for Toronto FC to get their first club goal.

In what seemed like a season destined to be relegated to the “to be forgotten” pile, Toronto FC started their 5^th game against the Chicago Fire (top half of the Eastern standings) 3:30 PM. Arriving in the press box at around 3:00 PM after wading through a sea of red (Toronto FC fans) chanting T,O,R…O,N,T…Oooo,F,C! The game introductions got underway as the players lined up, the national anthems were sung, the officials were introduced but, the regularity of the situation was interrupted by the crowd of fans throwing out their Frisbee-like seat cushions covering the pitch with white discs that were picked up by the grounds crew as well as a few staff who were in suits.

 

 

 

The game started off then as the crowd continued to cheer, the stadium was packed with disappointed Leafs and Raptors fan, and all that energy was concentrated within BMO field as the fans cheered on their team. The game initially was messy as both teams employed a strategy of close man-to-man marking, forcing a ridiculously huge number of turnovers and fouls. Eventually the game opened up a bit and there was less back-and-forth play and longer streaks of team possession. It would be Toronto though who would have the upper hand during the first half, pressuring the Chicago defense and only letting the rare Chicago run forward. Mo Johnston, head coach for Toronto FC would be along the sidelines constantly giving out orders to his team. Around the ten minute mark however, Chicago managed to reverse the pressure and their team began to push forward, drawing fouls from the Toronto defense and getting a couple of free kicks from dangerous positions just outside the 18-yard box. Toronto would fight back against this pressure by leaving a striker in line with Chicago’s last man and playing the through-ball forward, although this usually resulted in an offside call as the Chicago defense skillfully played the offside trap over and over again.

 

Finally, in the 24^th minute, David Dichio would connect with a Edson Buddle cross from the left of the goal to slot the ball past the Chicago keeper for Toronto FC’s first ever goal. BMO Field exploded in a kaleidoscope of red and white as celebrations began, once again the white Frisbee seat cushions whipped out onto the field. It was a full five minutes before order was restored and play could resume. Toronto continued to press but ultimately their lack of caution and focus (following their goal) led to Chicago scoring the tying goal in the 36^th minute. The rest of the half played out as tensions on both sides increased with two scuffles breaking out within the Chicago six yard box, one of which saw the sending off of both Toronto’s Dichio and Chicago’s Gutierrez. There had been twenty-five fouls in the first half.

The second half was observed from what was possibly one of the most exciting vantage points at BMO field. Departing from the relatively subdued calm of the Press Box, I made my way downstairs to mingle with the crowd as well as take in the view from all around the field. Let me tell you this, there is NO such thing as a bad seat at BMO field, the view is excellent. For those of you who really want to enjoy the football match though, make sure you get seats close to where the rival supporters will be, that’s where I placed myself for the second half. Nonstop cheering, nonstop jeering, beer and just off to the side behind the Chicago net, where I was able to watch TFC score two of their three goals. I actually missed the second goal but heard the pandemonium engulf the stadium when it went in and I was standing right there when Edu banged home his goal from the left side of the net. Needless to say some of the Chicago fans weren’t happy and this resulted in some thrown beer, but that’s all part of the game.

 

 

All in all though, Toronto has a new darling, a new addition to the already bustling sports scene within the city. Toronto will now be home to the blue and white of the leafs and the jays, the purple and red of the raptors and now, the red, grey and, white of Toronto FC. “This is our house!” chanted the fans at the close of the game and I agree, this is our house. As one reporter put it, BMO stadium has an “intimidating” atmosphere, created by its fans and to be a part of it, is to experience something truly wonderful.

Leafs 2-5 Islanders

Another disappointing loss, i hate new york. first a 7-2 loss to the rangers earlier on and now a 5-2 loss to the islanders. especially during crunch time - with the race for the final playoff spot, these couldnt come at a worse time.

add this to the fact that montreal also lost tonight, so even if we had prolonged the game to overtime, we would have caught up to them in points. but no, we had to go get our asses kicked.  goals from smyth, sillinger, blake, asham and satan gave the islanders their five goals while once again our two goals came from unlike sources: johnny pohl and carlo colaiacovo. sundin still hasnt found the tying goal and to make things even worse, his point streak is now over. raycroft can now only do one better than belfour’s record.

stats. we outshot the islanders 30 to 27. we lost 5-2. someone tell me what’s going on here. the islanders beat us with their backup goalie - who in true fashion to form, has been playing top notch - 6 wins, 1 loss (i think) - following the trend that when playoff race teams play their backups, they shine -> j.s. aubin for us, ward for the ‘canes. leafs have now lost seven on the road.

status. we’re still a point behind the habs, islanders are 1 point behind us. both the rangers and tampa have clinched playoff spots. so now its a three way fight for that last, final spot. canadiens and leafs have one game left each - against each other. islanders have two games left, including one against everybody’s favourite punching bag - philly.  assuming that the islanders get the two points in that game then, the rankings will be montreal 90, islanders 90, leafs 89.

we need to beat montreal and that will knock them out. it gets pretty confusing when it comes to the islanders though. see, tie break rules are 1) total number of wins, 2) season series, 3) goal difference.

scenario 1: we beat habs, islanders lose. we’re through to the playoffs.
scenario 2: we beat habs, islanders win. we’re out.
scenario 3: we beat habs, islanders win in overtime, we’re out.
scenario 4: we beat habs, islanders lose in overtime, we go through on total number of wins (1 more than them)
scenario 5: we lose to habs, nothing else matters. we’re out.

i think i did the math right, someone correct me if im wrong.

so its crunch time, and as paul maurice said, ““You just have to focus on your end and be a Flyer and Devil fan”.