Top 5, 07.13: FCD D News; Stats; RSL Grovels

With no oxygen left outside LA for reasons already discussed, I doubt this will gain notice. But here goes...

- Just when FC Dallas is finally able to field Adrian Serioux, they lose Alex Yi to a hamstring injury. Sucks for them, but even more for Yi, who seemed to be getting used to the whole pro-soccer thing. In a related note, FCD versus DC United ought to be one of the games of the weekend, right?

- Throughball posted a cool table showing some kind of statistical formula for offensive production, adjusted by position. I picked this up through The Offside, who expressed reasonable shock that Clint Mathis came in second, but that's hardly the only surprise in there. Eddie Gaven?

- This comment barely relates to the article, but, while I was reading something about New England's Michael Parkhurst finally shifting back to where he likes to be, a random comment about Shalrie Joseph's status got me thinking: given a playoff format as generous as Major League Soccer's (MLS), why the hell does any team not give top players time to heal, room to get well before the late-season push? The Revs kept rushing Pat Noonan back last year. I don't get it. This league's regular season schedule may be crowded, but it's also exceptionally soft - soft enough that you don't saving players where you can makes a lot more sense than trying to kill them.

- I noted Jason Kreis' open letter to Real Salt Lake fans yesterday, but, as reported on The Offside Rules, they're bowing lower still by having players call season-ticket holders. It's nice, I suppose, in a stalker-boyfriend who can't do anything right kind of way, but they really don't pay the players enough to abase themselves in that manner.

- I never knew Chicago had so many Mexicans. Now I do - it's in this Houston Chronicle article a little ways down - and now so do you.

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