RHINO DROPPINGS

August 11, 2004

Last time out: It would break our hearts – and presumably, yours, too – to re-hash any of the “exciting” four matches since we last rapped at you.  Four games…four goals, and one of them was a penalty kick.  The lone win came against a team (Minnesota) who was far more concerned about an upcoming US Open Cup battle than they were a regular old league match, since their playoff berth is all but sewn up.  Not impressive stuff.  Not at all.  The Rhinos are barely clinging to a positive goal-differential, and they have three teams – each with fewer matches played – breathing down their neck for the last two playoff spots.  Their road goal-differential is approaching -1.00, and they’ve found the back of the net just nine times over the last 13 games.

Instead of dwelling on the negative, let’s talk about something else.  How about the Salty Dogs?  During Syracuse’s nine-match unbeaten streak, they’ve scored just 12 goals during the run of play (we’re not counting three PKs or Montreal’s own goal – hope Rochester doesn’t end up getting the playoff boot because of that one).  Of those 12, six came from players that weren’t with the team a month ago.  Those three players (Attila Vendegh, Jonathan Steele, and Mauro Carbajal) have also combined for three assists, two game-winning goals and two match-tying assists.  That brings up an interesting question: Do you think the Rhinos are better off for not trying to gobble up a slew of new players before the trade deadline?  They usually employ this style of roster management as the playoffs approach, and the RD usually grumbles about how doing so has a negative impact on team chemistry.  Then again, in previous seasons, the Rhinos’ bench was already clogged with forwards that weren’t being used (Wolyniec, Butcher, Trotman, Mitchell, etc.) when management called in new talent to remedy the inevitable scoring woes.  That’s not the case this year.

Questions, questions…and more questions:

If you were playing the Rhinos, wouldn’t you kick the ball over your end line whenever Rochester got anywhere near your goal?  A corner kick – especially one at Frontier Maximum Security Field – is the equivalent of eating 20-30 seconds off of the clock.  Anyone think the Rhinos take corner kick drills during practice?  It sure doesn’t look like it.  The futility of it all is making the RD dislike The White Stripes, and that’s kind of whack.  No, it’s wiggity-whack.

Anybody else getting tired of hearing the “Well, we’ve had to play a lot of games lately” excuse for lackadaisical efforts?  Um, hello…doesn’t every A-League team have the same number of matches?  Granted, the Rhinos had a few extra matches – spread over five weeks – this season because of USOC play, but so did a bunch of other league competitors.  Like Charleston, for example.  The last-place Battery played four matches in the six days since last Wednesday, and three of them were on the road.  They went 1-2-1, with the one loss coming in an overtime heartbreaker against Richmond.  Conversely, the Rhinos played three at home over that span, going just 0-2-1.  The RD has looked high and low for Chris Ramsey quotes complaining about the hectic schedule, but came up empty.  Strange, innit?  And it’s not like the schedule should come as a surprise to anyone.  This happens every year, yet some people seem floored when they find out there’s another game in two days.

Next up. On that unkind road again, facing Charleston on Friday and Atlanta on Sunday before returning home for the final homestand…which could actually be the final homestand,  The Battery, already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, now exist only to irritate the Rhinos – they’re the sand in Rochester’s bikini, and no matter how many times you try to rinse it off, you’ll never get it all.  Charleston also knows they’re capable of beating the Rhinos instead of merely holding them scoreless, like last year’s playoffs.  Look for them to play 10 men behind the ball, and force Rochester into “Hulk” mode so they’ll get as many cards as possible.  Hey, it’s what we would do if the RD coached a team.  And if we coached the Rhinos, you’d be seeing names like Pilarski, Barry, Dargout and DiNunzio starting this one.

.

	Tail of the Tape
13-3-8	Record	3-6-15
5-1-6 (away)		1-3-7 (home)
10-3-8	Conference Record	3-6-13
3-1-6 (away)		1-3-7 (home)
1.20	GFA	0.79
0.91 (away)		1.18 (home)
1.04	GAA	1.50
1.58 (away)		2.00 (home)
0.16	Goal Differential	<0.71>
<0.67> (away)		<0.82> (home)
2 draws	Streak	2 draws
3 losses (away)		4 losses (home)
3-2-5	Last 10 matches	1-2-7
5-0-5 (away)		1-2-7 (home)
8-2-1	Head-to-Head	1-2-8
4-1-1 (away)		1-1-4 (home)
9-5-5	August Record*	7-8-4
3-2-4 (away)		3-2-4 (home)
12-4-10	Friday Record*	10-5-8
3-1-5 (away)		5-1-5 (home)
3-1-3	August/Friday Record*	2-3-1
1-0-2 (away)		0-0-1 (home)
	* - since 2002

Atlanta had never beaten Rochester until earlier this season, and they can smell the blood in the water, too.  The S-Backs currently enjoy the services of now-healthy midfielders John Ball and Philippe Godoy, the latter of whom was a First Team All-Star with Milwaukee back in ’01.  They’ve had a bit of a dry spell as of late, but you can attribute some of the trouble to suspensions (three games for Gary Brooks; one for Josh Barton) and one match where they played a man down for the entire second half.  A little heapin’ helpin’ of that Rochester road hospitality should be the cure for what ails ‘em.  Plus they have Ball back, and they’re 10-1-2 when he’s playing.

	Tail of the Tape
13-3-8	Record	12-2-7
5-1-6 (away)		7-0-5 (home)
10-3-8	Conference Record	10-2-7
3-1-6 (away)		7-0-5 (home)
1.20	GFA	1.67
0.91 (away)		1.91 (home)
1.04	GAA	1.28
1.58 (away)		1.50 (home)
0.16	Goal Differential	0.39
<0.67> (away)		0.41 (home)
2 draws	Streak	2 losses
3 losses (away)		2 losses (home)
3-2-5	Last 10 matches	5-1-4
5-0-5 (away)		7-0-3 (home)
5-1-1	Head-to-Head	1-2-8
2-0-0 (away)		0-0-2 (home)
9-5-5	August Record*	2-3-7
3-2-4 (away)		0-2-5 (home)
8-4-5	Sunday Record*	4-1-9
4-1-4 (away)		1-1-4 (home)
1-1-1	August/Sunday Record*	0-1-2
0-0-1 (away)		0-1-2 (home)
	* - since 2002

Rochester is currently in third place in the Eastern Conference, but fourth-place Atlanta is just four points behind…with three less matches under their belt.  Count on them finishing ahead of the Rhinos when the August dust settles.  Syracuse is also four points back, and has one less game played than Rochester.  Call the RD crazy, but we’re not exactly brimming with confidence over nabbing a lot of points over the last three matches of the season.  Rochester hosts the S-Backs on August 25 and Montreal on August 27 to close out 2004.  The Rhinos haven’t scored on either team this season, and considering the way they’ve whimpered out of the past couple of seasons (2-2-2 in 2003; 2-1-2 in 2002), we anticipate these last three game with a sense of dread rather than excitement.  You heard it hear first: Only two points will separate third place from sixth place, and that makes every half-cocked, untaken shot even more cringe-worthy.

Prediction: A dull 0-0 draw in Charleston, and a 1-0 loss in Atlanta.

Around the A-League. Virginia Beach’s Jeff Bilyk picked up his awe-inspiring 11^th caution in just 19 games.  And welcome back, Fadi Afash – the Syrian forward returned to Portland, and in the five games since he’s been back, has two goals in leading the Timbers to a 4-1-0 record.  Who else is hot?

Who’s Hot: Calgary (2-1-0 after dropping six straight), Montreal (4-1-0 after losing two), Richmond (won four in row after going 1-0-3), Syracuse (on a 7-2-0 run), Virginia Beach (4-0-0 after losing two).

Who’s Not: Atlanta (1-1-4 after winning 10 straight), Milwaukee (0-1-3 after an 8-1-0 run), Minnesota (0-0-4 after four straight wins), Rochester (1-2-3).

Miscellaneous droppings:  We're looking for ideas here at RD headquarters.  If you can think of some fun weekly addition we can add to our coverage, drop us a line at rhinodroppings@sick-boy.com.