#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1). A 4-2 screening week, all at home. Lost the series to Cleveland but made up for it by sweeping the pathetic Kansas City Royals (who cares, they won their World Series!) over the weekend. They remain nine games back of Cleveland in the A.L. Central, but at least they aren't on the short end of the widest gap among division opponents anymore; with Boston sweeping the Yankees this weekend, Boston has now opened up, as of press time, a 9 1/2-game lead on the Yanks in the A.L. East. So that's got to count for something, right?
Oh, and by Tuesday Brian Dozier and Lance Lynn were both traded, to the Dodgers and Yankees, respectively. Good for them. They'll probably dominate baseball after getting free of those Twinks uniforms.
I'ven't got much else to say because I wanted to talk about Minnesota United. Just want to note that this week they are on the road: Four vs. Cleveland starting tonight, then three in Detroit.
#-2: United FC (Last Week: -2). I feel like I'm overreacting. But after watching these Loonies choke on a 1-0 lead by letting in two Goals by Seattle in stoppage time (!!!), I still am mad -- not in a pissed-off, throwing-shit-around-the-house type of way, but a dull apoplexy, something where, when that game-winning tally happened, I would look to my friend (who's not there because I usually don't go to sporting events with other people) and shake my head.
And yet although I want to concentrate on this loss, the team's second in a row, I think there is a hell of a lot more under the surface that needs to be brought out into the open instead ... and it all deals with Christian Ramirez, Loons Striker and the guy many fans who have followed MNUFC from its NASL days regard -- rightfully -- as their guy. Because it looks as though he might not be wearing the Loons jersey for much longer, and that's a huge fucking problem.
OK, so here's what happened, as best I can see. Angelo Rodriguez, the team's second (or is it third?) Designated Player, was all set to be part of the bench for United Saturday. Then, he was named to the starting lineup ... in place of Superman. And he looked ... OK. He didn't score (Darwin Quintero, Jr. did, again), but he had a couple shots, including a header from Quintero that just went wide.
In the 91st Minute, Francisco Calvo was called for a handball. Replays showed he was sticking his legs out while his body was falling to the ground at a perpendicular angle; the shot that was coming in on goal hit his left arm, which was kind off to the side but was reaching downward, as if Calvo was bracing for a fall. Upon Video Assistant Referee, a Penalty Kick was called for Seattle, and the Sounders converted it to the tie the game.
At this point the Sounders had exhausted all three of its subs. Adrian Heath, meanwhile, still had one. He did use that sub. No yanking Rodriguez for, say, Wyatt Omsberg, the rook who is still a pretty tall dude who could fight in the air for 50/50 balls. And definitely no Ramirez, who stayed lashed to the bench. So, five minutes later, a Hail Mary lofted ball into the Minnesota defensive half was ganked by two Loons, won by the only Sounder there, and flipped back to a marauding Will Bruin, who himself chipped it over Bobby Shuttleworth. And the Loons once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
That's not all. In the bewildering moroseness of the loss, I saw a few weird things. First of all, The Athletic's Jeff Reuter noticed (and reported on Twitter) that Ramirez was practicing triangle drills before the match with Miguel Ibarra and Brent Kallman, two of his teammates with MNUFC all the way back to the NASL days. For the past week or so, Reuter has been able to confirm that the front office is "listening to offers" for Ramirez for a few clubs. The Transfer Window, aka soccer's Trade Deadline, is Wednesday. So maybe it's reading too much into things, but Ramirez knowing that he might be on the trading block and then hearing that he won't start made him think he needed to stand by his mates one last time if he's traded.
The weirdest thing, however, was that Christian Ramirez's aunt, who lives in Colombia, tweeted about him after the loss. And he called out Head Coach Heath:
Adrian Heath has never loved Christian Ramirez. He has not respected and valued him as the star player and scorer who helped MNFC jump from NASL to MLS. He has not recognized his serious, responsible work and his permanent effort to move the team forward with his many notes.— Luz Marina Tamayo G. (@gilrest) August 5, 2018
Holy shit, is this true?
OK, so here's my take. I understand that you need to play the DPs you sign. But I thought that Rodriguez would be a second-half sub. At the very least flip it around and put in Ramirez at the half. And at the very, very least use that fucking sub for Superman after Seattle takes the lead, for fuck's sake. He did none of that. Ramirez has had some struggles this year, but he remains a prime scorer for this club, and he has shown tremendous chemistry with Ibarra and Quintero. To let that go to waste, when you had one sub left to use, in a final home game before going on the road for the next six-to-seven weeks, in a match the entire team themselves said was the important match of the year -- well, I'm astonished.
(In the meantime Calvo again tried to answer reporters' questions about potential discord within the team by questioning the reporters' motives. He's been having a low-grade tiff with The Media all year. Calvo's not too fucking far off from telling journalists their questions are "fake news," if that's the road he wants to go down, and I think he does. That he is the Captain of this club and has been trotted out as a go-to spokesman from the team makes this a potential hornet's nest in team-media relations. Watch this space.)
I now have to wonder why Heath did not put in one of the squad's best scoring weapons at all in a pivotal match. Is it personal animosity? Is it possible that Heath, who had played Ramirez for matches before, was ordered to start Rodriguez (and, maybe, keep Ramirez on the bench) by Sporting Director Manny Lagos? Is there a trade brewing? Is Ramirez sad that he will be traded? Mad?
And the most important question in my mind right now: Will Christian Ramirez be traded? I know what the answer to that should be: Fuck no. Heath and Lagos may have their reservations about Superman's play, or they may think that the future for this team has to go through Quintero, Rodriguez and Romario Ibarra. They might not be wrong. But if they think that Ramirez is chopped liver, they're pretty fucking wrong. And moreover, and more important to that, the fanbase loves him. They still believe in him even if Heath and Lagos do not. They -- and shit, let's throw in Owner Bill McGuire too -- may think we're all happy that we have a team in Major League Soccer, but they have to understand that the true diehards that come to TCF Bank Stadium each match cares for Christina Ramirez. A lot.
So I do not intend this as a threat or a warning. I really don't. Trade Christian Ramirez at your own peril. Giving him up is a bad move -- possibly for on-the-pitch reasons but definitely for fan relations reasons. There was a beer thrown at the Sounders when they scored to win the game in the 96th Minute. I assure you that if Ramirez is traded away, there will be a hell of a lot more cups of beer thrown onto the pitch. And some of them might not be thrown at the other team.
Oh yeah, the games. So MNUFC had a chance to pull into sixth place in the Western Conference. That's why they said Saturday night's match was so important. Instead they remain out of the playoff picture and now they play five straight games on the road, beginning with Saturday's match vs. Zlatan Ibrahimovich and the Los Angeles Galaxy. I have no doubt that this crushing loss will send this entire team, and this franchise, into a tailspin by the time they get back. And I wonder why I renewed my season tickets with them. Harrumph.
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