FOXBORO, Mass – The New England Revolution became the inaugural SuperLiga Champions after defeating the Houston Dynamo in a shootout that capped off a wild affair Tuesday night in Gillette Stadium.
After 2 hours of play, the 2-2 tie sent the match into a shootout. In the eighth round of penalty shots while tied at five, New England defender Chris Albright put one through, and Dynamo midfielder Cory Ashe hit the crossbar to clinch it for the Revs. Bob Kraft, Head Coach Steve Nicol, and Revs were celebrating with the SuperLiga Trophy on a confetti-laden field at the stroke of midnight.
“We shouldn’t be surprised, our boys pride themselves on the commitment and the passion of the game and to each other, and that was really what got us through it,” Nicol said after the two hour and forty-five contest. “They backed each other up tonight and that is what got us the result at the end of the day.”
Nicol touched on pride and passion a few times in the post-game press conference, perhaps a telling sign of what the players feed off of in the finals of a tournament in front of 9,232 fans that some critics failed to legitimize. But perhaps even the harshest of critics might have conceded that the intensity of the game rivaled any other between the two rivals.
In the 18th minute a defensive lapse in front of New England’s net led to a Nate Jaqua unassisted goal putting the Dynamo up one early on. The Revs would continue the trend of fighting from behind for the rest of the evening.
Right before the conclusion of the First Half, at the 41st minute, Revs forward Steve Ralston caught the rebound of a Mauricio Castro shot, and tied the game at one a piece. No one would score until the two fifteen minute overtime periods began. Then just eight minutes in, Houston would regain the lead when Kei Kamara, who was subbed into the game, caught a pass from Brian Ching that he fired passed Revs Keeper Matt Reis. Steve Alston would contribute yet again. He had a free kick that was re-directed by Shalrie Joseph into the Houston goal in the 102nd minute.
The Revolution had fired the latest shot at the Dynamo in their latest encounter in what has become a storied MLS rivalry.
“Both teams kind of made each other, as far as that’s concerned, [they’re] great professionals, to a man,” added Nicol. “It must’ve been exciting to watch. If we could get a game like that in the MLS Cup Final, between the two teams, I would vote for that as well,” Steve Nicol.
Houston Head Coach Dominic Kinnear would too, he echoed the same sentiment, “I was saying [after the game], I hope we play them one more time this year, and that would be the MLS Cup Final…it would be a nice storyline.”
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
First-place PawSox will be without Moss
PAWTUCKET—The PawSox fell victim to a deadline deal. The first-place Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox will be without the team’s Left Fielder and number-three hitter Brandon Moss.
The International League All-Star was traded along with Red Sox reliever and former first-round pick Craig Hansen, and Third Baseman Andy LaRoche and Class A pitching prospect Bryan Morris from the LA Dodgers to the Pittsburgh Pirates as a part of a three-way trade that sent Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers, and Jason Bay to the Red Sox.
Pawtucket Manager Ron Johnson, who is no stranger to losing his players to the Big League Club is in the middle of an International League pennant race, but he fully understands this part of the job.
“I’m really glad we’re winning, but there’s one place we want to win,” Johnson reasoned in his office after a thrilling 7-6 walk-off win over Rochester on Thursday night. “We want to make sure these guys are prepared to help Tito in the big leagues. So Mossy gets traded, Hansen gets traded, well, they’re our guys, we love ‘em, but the bottom line is that we had a need. Those guys were a part of the puzzle to help [bring in Bay]. They were marketable enough to be guys that someone else would take and put in the big leagues, so that we can acquire [Bay].”
Johnson was without Moss while the outfielder appeared in thirty-four games for Boston this year. He hit .295 and, perhaps most notably, played for an injured J.D. Drew in the Red Sox season opener in Japan where he homered off A’s closer Huston Street to tie the game in ninth.
He was the everyday Left Fielder for Johnson and hit third in the PawSox batting order. He totaled 16 homeruns and 78 RBIs while hitting .282 in 43 games for Pawtucket in 2008.
Although Johnson isn’t asking anyone to come in a replace what most considered a Major League hitter in Moss, PawSox reliever Jon Switzer, a former Tampa Bay Devil Ray, is confident that players will step up.
“I think any time you move a player like him there are spots that open up. It’s great for the guys here,” said Switzer, the winning pitcher in the game Moss was pulled from some three hours before the first pitch. “And the team does it for a reason, they know those spots can be filled. That’s one of the things about this game, the more spots that can be filled, then the better the organization is, and this organization is really deep.”
Switzer is right, all you have to do is take a look at the box scores to see which former Red Sox farm hands are contributing: Dustin Pedroia is fifth in the American League with a .317 batting average, Jacoby Ellsbury’s 35 stolen bases lead the AL, Jon Lester just received the League’s Pitcher of the Month award for the month of July, and their closer is All-Star Jon Papelbon. And this was also the same organization that National Superstar Hanley Ramirez came up in.
To say that Moss has big shoes to fill might be an understatement, but his old teammates in Pawtucket certainly have high hopes for him. “We’re all excited for Mossy to get the opportunity to play in the Big Leagues,” Fellow All-Star Joe Thurston said. And Switzer added, “I think it’s exciting for him, he’s going to go over there and be an everyday player, it looks like, and he deserves it, he’s a great player."
Moss packed his bags and left McCoy Stadium around 5:30pm when he learned of his future. He boarded a flight for Chicago to join his new team as they begin a three-game set at Wrigley Field.
The International League All-Star was traded along with Red Sox reliever and former first-round pick Craig Hansen, and Third Baseman Andy LaRoche and Class A pitching prospect Bryan Morris from the LA Dodgers to the Pittsburgh Pirates as a part of a three-way trade that sent Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers, and Jason Bay to the Red Sox.
Pawtucket Manager Ron Johnson, who is no stranger to losing his players to the Big League Club is in the middle of an International League pennant race, but he fully understands this part of the job.
“I’m really glad we’re winning, but there’s one place we want to win,” Johnson reasoned in his office after a thrilling 7-6 walk-off win over Rochester on Thursday night. “We want to make sure these guys are prepared to help Tito in the big leagues. So Mossy gets traded, Hansen gets traded, well, they’re our guys, we love ‘em, but the bottom line is that we had a need. Those guys were a part of the puzzle to help [bring in Bay]. They were marketable enough to be guys that someone else would take and put in the big leagues, so that we can acquire [Bay].”
Johnson was without Moss while the outfielder appeared in thirty-four games for Boston this year. He hit .295 and, perhaps most notably, played for an injured J.D. Drew in the Red Sox season opener in Japan where he homered off A’s closer Huston Street to tie the game in ninth.
He was the everyday Left Fielder for Johnson and hit third in the PawSox batting order. He totaled 16 homeruns and 78 RBIs while hitting .282 in 43 games for Pawtucket in 2008.
Although Johnson isn’t asking anyone to come in a replace what most considered a Major League hitter in Moss, PawSox reliever Jon Switzer, a former Tampa Bay Devil Ray, is confident that players will step up.
“I think any time you move a player like him there are spots that open up. It’s great for the guys here,” said Switzer, the winning pitcher in the game Moss was pulled from some three hours before the first pitch. “And the team does it for a reason, they know those spots can be filled. That’s one of the things about this game, the more spots that can be filled, then the better the organization is, and this organization is really deep.”
Switzer is right, all you have to do is take a look at the box scores to see which former Red Sox farm hands are contributing: Dustin Pedroia is fifth in the American League with a .317 batting average, Jacoby Ellsbury’s 35 stolen bases lead the AL, Jon Lester just received the League’s Pitcher of the Month award for the month of July, and their closer is All-Star Jon Papelbon. And this was also the same organization that National Superstar Hanley Ramirez came up in.
To say that Moss has big shoes to fill might be an understatement, but his old teammates in Pawtucket certainly have high hopes for him. “We’re all excited for Mossy to get the opportunity to play in the Big Leagues,” Fellow All-Star Joe Thurston said. And Switzer added, “I think it’s exciting for him, he’s going to go over there and be an everyday player, it looks like, and he deserves it, he’s a great player."
Moss packed his bags and left McCoy Stadium around 5:30pm when he learned of his future. He boarded a flight for Chicago to join his new team as they begin a three-game set at Wrigley Field.
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