Last Night's Action: Take The Good With The Bad

Sounders 2, United 1: Same two teams, same result, same player with a big goal. United dropped another fixture to Seattle at RFK Stadium last night 2-1, after doing the exact same a week and a half ago. It's certainly arguable which defeat is more damaging to the club -- the loss 10 days ago with the Open Cup on the line, or this one, which really puts D.C. in a bind as far as the race for the MLS playoffs are concerned. Seattle went ahead early on a fifth-minute strike from Steve Zakuani, who got on the end of a nice pass from Peter Vagenas and megged Josh Wicks for the lead. Rodney Wallace equalized for the Black-and-Red about ten minutes into the second half, but it was Sounders striker Freddy Montero who really stuck the dagger into United. (I mean, again.) After the home side had chances to take the lead, Montero hit an upper 90 blast to lead Seattle to the victory. United still find themselves with playoff possibilities, but they hold several games in hand over most of the teams competing for those final positions and will find themselves at the mercy of the fates if they can't hit a hot streak soon.

Marlins 11, Nationals 3: A lengthy rain delay in Florida kept the Nationals from starting the game on time. Obviously, it rattled first-time starter Marco Estrada, who allowed five runs in two and a third innings, and the Nats had a very poor outing against Florida. If there's any positives to take, the middle relievers got a chance to show what they bring to the team; some (Saul Rivera, Ross Detweiler) were successful in that endeavor, others (Logan Kensing, Victor Garate, Zack Segovia) not so much. It was also an ugly game for the offense -- outside of promising September callups Justin Maxwell (two home runs) and Ian Desmond (a four-hit night), the Nats got little bang for their buck at the plate.

And now, here's your college football score roundup -- as usual, be sure to check back tomorrow for your usual snark analysis in Conference Calls:

• Maryland 38, James Madison 35 (OT) (Hey, we said it would be close.)
• #16 TCU 30, Virginia 14
• Rutgers 45, Howard 7
• #14 Virginia Tech 52, Marshall 10