Crunching the Numbers- Portland

RSL came back down a man Wednesday night in dramatic fashion to get a 3-3 tie with Portand. Although the point is very helpful for RSL, Ned Grabavoy said it best when he mentioned that it kept Portand from getting two more points. There are some really interesting numbers coming out of the match. Lets take a look in the bonus edition this week of Crunching the Numbers.

• RSL has now scored 44 goals in 2340 minutes. That comes out to a goal every 53.18 minutes. 44 goals passes the total goals scored in 2009 (43) and ties the amount of goals scored in 2011. The most goals ever scored by the team was 46 last year but the best scoring rate was in 2010 when the team scored a goal every 60.00 minutes. 
• RSL has now give up 33 goals on the season or a goal every 70.91 minutes. If this number holds, it will be our worst defensive rate since 2007. If anyone is wondering, the club record for goals given up was in 2005 when the team gave up a goal every 44.31 minutes.
• RSL has now scored 19 goals at home or 1.58 goals a game. On the road RSL has scored 25 times or 1.78 goals per game.
• Over the past 8 MLS matches, RSL is scoring at a rate of a goal every 42.35 minutes. 
• RSL midfielders have scored 19 times this season. Last season the midfield only contributed for 13 goals on the season. 
• The team has now scored 17 goals between the 75th minute and the end of the match. That represents 38.64% of all the goals scored. In comparison between the 15th and 30th minute of matches, RSL has only scored 3 goals. 
• RSL also finishes the half well. They have scored 10 goals between the 30th and 45th minutes.
• Overall Olmes Garcia has played a total 769 minutes. During that time the team has scored 19 goals or a goal every 40.47 minutes. As a sub, Garcia has played 292 minutes with the team scoring 11 goals or a goal every 26.55 minutes.
• Garcia and Joao Plata have played 329 minutes together. During that time RSL has scored 10 goals or a goal every 32.90 minutes. 
• Tony Beltran has played 1699 minutes. During that time RSL has given up 18 goals or a goal every 94.39 minutes. This is the best defensive rate on the team.
• For centerbacks the best defensive rating on the team is Chris Schuler. When Schuler plays, RSL has been giving up a goal every 83.08 minutes.

We are seeing things out of this RSL offense that we have never seen before. All time club records will begin to fall in the next game or two if RSL continues to score at the pace that they have been. In the last 8 matches, RSL has scored an incredible 17 times. Over the course of their first 18 matches, RSL only scored 16 times.

Garcia has not scored in a while for the team but statistically his numbers are through the roof. The team just continues to score when ever he is on the field. Let's look at his numbers another way. He has played 769 minutes which is 33% of the total minutes that RSL has played. Logical thinking would lead you to believe that if a player played 33% of all minutes that he would have been on the field for 33% of all goals as well. In this case Garcia has been on the field for 43.18% of all RSL goals. You might expect a little difference between those numbers for a player but the difference between Garcia's numbers are huge.

Although the offensive numbers are off the charts at the moment, the defense has been struggling. Take Beltran for an example. His 94.39 stat from above is impressive. Any time you play over 90 minutes before giving up a goal is a great stat. But over the past couple of weeks ago, that number was at 139. Now by no means am I saying all of our defensive problems are because of Beltran. I feel he is, by far, our best defender. But it just shows how bad the defense has been the past few weeks. I will be taking a closer look at our defense in a blog post next week.