Jozy Alitdore-We Hardly Knew Thee

As you know I have an ongoing love affair with the New York Red Bulls. A couple months back I wrote about the team, I explained why you should love them too. One of the reasons I gave was Jozy Altidore, the 18 year old stiker with European-League level talent, a rare talent in the MLS. Earlier this month Altidore was signed by Villareal, one of the top "clubs" in the Spanish Premier league. Not only did Villareal sign an American born player, but they signed him to the largest contract ever given to an MLSer. This post is not just an "I told you so" on my part, but another chance for me to ask you to please give the Red Bulls a shot. As they pull into the middle of the season (the all-star game is in a couple of weeks), the Bulls are only four wins out of first place in the Eastern Conference. With Altidore gone, Angel has become an even bigger part of the Red Bulls offense, and he now has 19 goals on the season, second best in the league. Clearly scoring is not an issue for the Bulls, and their games are not the boring contests you would normally think of when considering watching an MLS match on TV. And if you are one of the few who do consider watching MLS matches, good for you, to the rest of you give it a shot, just one, it will be fun I promise. And if you don't have a good time, I know that D. Spell's mom is available every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6 to 10...and that is always a fun time.

-Mose

Last Weekend in New York Sports

Darrell was kind enough to give me the weekend off, I know you all missed me. Anyway if you took the weekend off to spend more time with your mother here's what you missed.

Friday:
Yankees-5 Tigers-6
As Darrell wrote so eloquently last week, Kei Igawa sucks. And he followed through on his terrible pitching ability Friday night going 3 innings, allowing 11 hits, 6 runs, and not striking out a single batter. Besides Igawa the Yankees were good Friday night, nearly coming back to tie the game up against Todd Jones, alas it was not to be. But 5 innings of shut out ball from the bullpen and another home run from Jason Giambi were very positive indicators for the Yanks. Even Robinson Cano had two hits, so you know it must have been a good day.

Saturday:
Mets-12 Reds-6
For the opening half of Saturday's doubleheader, the Mets came out swinging, scoring seven runs in the first five innings of off starter Matt Belisle and reliever Bill Bray, before Mike Lincoln came in and shut the door, allowing only four runs in two innings. Everyone was able to hit off of the Reds pitchers, David Wright had two hits and Carlos Beltran was able to hit a triple, his second of the season. Santana pitched well, although he did allow 10 hits in just six innings, but the offensive firepower was more than enough to make up for Santana's less than perfect pitching.

Mets-1 Reds-7
The second half of the doubleheader looked like the exact opposite of the first game. The Mets offense could not put it togther against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo, who surrendered just four hits over eight innings. Mike Pelfrey had a pretty good start himself, allowing two runs over six. And the game stayed close until the 8th, when Duaner Sanchez game up another two runs, and at that point it was all over. 3 unearned runs in the 9th off of a David Wright error, and the game ended up looking like a route, but it was really a close game for the Mets.

Yankees-5 Tigers-2
Darrell Rasner had his second consecutive strong start and the Yankees finally ended their losing streak against the Tigers. Derek Jeter hit his first homerun of the year and Jason Giambi continued his slump busting ways, hitting a double and driving in a run in the Yankees victory. The bullpen showed up yesterday as well, good for 3 innings of shutout ball. Kyle Farnsworth is securing his spot as the 7th inning guy in the Yankees bullpen, making this team reminiscent of the Yankees teams of yore, when the Yanks were nearly unbeatable with a lead after the 6th inning.

Red Bulls-2 LA Galaxy-1
In the first Red Bulls game since I wrote my post about them, the Bulls squeaked past the LA Galaxy thanks to goals by Angel (I mentioned him) and Danleigh Borman (I did not mention him). David Beckham is on the Galaxy and the Red Bulls held him scoreless even though he did take like 5 free kicks. Where is your bending power now punk? So the Bulls have not lost a game in four consecutive matches, and they have only played six matches in all. Just to remind you it is not too late to join the Red Bulls bandwagon.


The Knicks sign Mike D'Antoni to be their next head coach. Yeah, let's see how well that works out.

Sunday:
Mets-8 Reds-3
After taking the second game of the double header off on Saturday the Mets offense came back strong on Sunday, scoring six runs off of rookie Johnny Cueto in just 4 2/3 innings. Carlos Beltran hit an RBI ground-rule double and a two-run homer in the victory and Oliver Perez had one of his best starts of the season as the Mets took care of business at home against one of the worst teams in the Majors.

-Mose

Give the Bull a Chance

Soccer sucks. We all know it, even Pele knows that his sport is a joke. Yet, for some reason Fifa is one of the most enjoyable and popular video games on the market. Few things are better than playing a couple of games in the Championship League with my Stoke City Potters, but when I turn on the live-action version of a "match" I always find myself bored to tears unless millions of shots are being taken or there is that gay ref made famous on YouTube on the "pitch" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=86AJje3ElDc). But sometimes I will turn on the Red Bulls game, the New York sport slut that I am, and I find myself enjoying the games. Not only do the Bulls have sick "kits", but their best player, Angel, is actually good even by European standards. Yes European standards mean nothing to me since I find that shit boring as hell, but it is nice to know that not everyone in the MLS is a huge turd who came to America simply because they couldn't make it in the "Premier League". The Red Bulls have only played 5 games this so season, so it is not too late to become a fan of Bulls this year (And no I am not talking about Darrell’s mom). Some other reasons to support the Red Bulls:
· Jozy Altidore-He’s only 19, he is from the Grandparent capital of the world, Boca Raton, FL, and his name is Jozy, if he isn’t cool then I don’t know who is
· Hot foreign chicks-foreign girls are hot, they like guys who love “football”, you love “football”! You are in, nice job man.
· The perks of loving a team with a small fan base-4 tickets are only 90 bucks if you sit on the “corner flag”, plus you get 4 free t-shirts. Its 90 bucks for one t-shirt at Yankee Stadium, let alone 4. Or you can become a Red Bulls Member, get a free fleece, and meet the players after every game.
· Being ahead of the curve-Being a fan of the Red Bulls is really a win-win. Either the MLS actually becomes a legitimate league allowing you to say that you were a fan before it was cool. Or the MLS remains a niche league, but now you are a fan of a niche sport allowing you to act superior around all of your friends who just don’t “get” the game of soccer.
· Did I mention the girls?

So, I beg of you, good people of Gotham, give the Red Bulls a chance, or at least keep playing Fifa.
-Mose