I've been pretty busy with house additions and family functions the past couple weeks, so without the capability to DVR matches that frustatingly are not on television, my reactions to these past two matches are coming only from video highlights and the written opinions of other fans, bloggers, and reporters. But I promise to resume my normal weekly match discussions Friday night. In the meantime, here's some quick thoughts...

April 4: 1-0 Win over Houston
Top Shelf: Bryan Namoff (An assist and a game-saving clearance off the goalline to preserve the win and the clean sheet), Louis Crayton (Didn't have to do too much, but a shutout in week 3 is much better than waiting until week 17 like last year), and Luciano Emilio (Nice touch on the goal.
Call: Chris Pontius (Earned himself many good opportunities, but needs to convert).
Rail: Jamie Moreno (A sliding tackle from behind at midfield is a highly unnecessary reason to play the remainder of the match down a man).

April 10: 2-1 Loss to Real Salt Lake
Top Shelf: Luciano Emilio and Chris Pontius (Continue to be the stars of the 2009 season for us)
Call: Andrew Jacobson (A lot of mixed opinions on Jacobson in his first start as he did well on the ball, but maybe failed in some of his defensive responsibilities) and Dejan Jakovic (BDR touted a couple of nice pokes by Jakovic to extinguish opportunities, but a couple scary moments from him as well).
Rail: Louis Crayton (He is allowed exactly one blown save per season - this needs to be the only one), Christian Gomez (Third game in a row that I have not seen him appear in the highlights even once), and Devon McTavish (Did very little in his return).

The best analysis so far goes to D with this expert analogy:

So we arrive at United's first loss of the year, and it feels as if an annoying acquaintance has shown up to your party, but an hour late, just as you were hoping that he might not remember the invitation you extended out of some strange social obligation. But in your heart, you knew he was coming, and he'd tell his bad jokes, and hit on your friends, and double-dip into the guacamole. All we can hope is that he didn't bring a sleeping bag, and leaves next week at RFK.