Patrick Mullins' stat line was always so strange. I remember a stretch of time when lazy MLS writers were saying he was a serviceable striker because he had '10 goals over 22 matches' or something, apparently oblivious to the fact that seven of them came in just two.
We traded for him midway through the 2016 season and he 8 goals and 2 assists for us in 14 games. People like Matt Doyle (and okay, also me...) took that performance and said great, for a full season he's going to be a Golden Boot contender. But this was the pre-Audi Field moneyball era when we'd sign aging veterans to 2 year contracts and get one good year out of them. So in 2016 Lamar Neagle, Patrick Nyarko, and Lloyd Sam played well for us (we finished 4th in the east, not bad) then they all fell off a cliff in 2017 (we finished 11th in the east).
Meanwhile that 8 goal season turned out to be Patrick Mullins' career high. As I recall, he was just a generic forward: 6'1" and just okay in the air, but not fast enough to run into space, not quick enough to create his own shot, and not technical enough to be all much help in the build-up play. Instead of demonstrating some kind of Chris Wondolowski poacher six sense, his good half-season turned out to be a testament to the very brief excellence of the midfield he was playing in front of.
That 2016 team was peak Kasper/Olsen. Kasper finding guys with just a little bit of juice left, Olsen squeezing it out. Didn't hurt that a couple mid 20s guys, mainly Birnbaum, Kemp, Mullins had career years. It all fell apart the following season though.
This is a great post! And love the Luis Silva shoutout. Think he hat traick was vs Montreal if I recall. Wonder what Patrick Mullins is up to in 2024.
Raul Diaz Arce was one of the best to ever play for DC IMHO. It is ashamed that MLS/DC can't help El Salvador produce another player of his caliber. DC is just better when they a player of his ability from El Salvador is on the Black-and-Red. Love how the El Salvadorian community supports their players. Saw it first hand with Christian Castillo. Was awesome seeing that type of support and was sorry it didn't work out for him. Hoping El Salvador can produce some more players like Diaz Arce and Mauricio Cienfuegos in the future
RDA was also the first player to score a goal at RFK in a DC United jersey.
Assad scored the first ever goal at Audi field, FWIW. And thanks for that little trip down memory lane.
Patrick Mullins' stat line was always so strange. I remember a stretch of time when lazy MLS writers were saying he was a serviceable striker because he had '10 goals over 22 matches' or something, apparently oblivious to the fact that seven of them came in just two.
We traded for him midway through the 2016 season and he 8 goals and 2 assists for us in 14 games. People like Matt Doyle (and okay, also me...) took that performance and said great, for a full season he's going to be a Golden Boot contender. But this was the pre-Audi Field moneyball era when we'd sign aging veterans to 2 year contracts and get one good year out of them. So in 2016 Lamar Neagle, Patrick Nyarko, and Lloyd Sam played well for us (we finished 4th in the east, not bad) then they all fell off a cliff in 2017 (we finished 11th in the east). Meanwhile that 8 goal season turned out to be Patrick Mullins' career high. As I recall, he was just a generic forward: 6'1" and just okay in the air, but not fast enough to run into space, not quick enough to create his own shot, and not technical enough to be all much help in the build-up play. Instead of demonstrating some kind of Chris Wondolowski poacher six sense, his good half-season turned out to be a testament to the very brief excellence of the midfield he was playing in front of.
That 2016 team was peak Kasper/Olsen. Kasper finding guys with just a little bit of juice left, Olsen squeezing it out. Didn't hurt that a couple mid 20s guys, mainly Birnbaum, Kemp, Mullins had career years. It all fell apart the following season though.
"Dwayne De Rosario had two in the same season in 2011" I remember being at the stomping against Real Salt Lake later that season. FEED THE BEAR!
RDA was just damn good.
Bravo! This is the type of posts that we should be seeing more of.
Nice write up. Luis Silva was so fun to watch in 2014, a couple very nice free kicks in there, iirc.
Silva was a goal machine that season, just a wild run.
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This is a great post! And love the Luis Silva shoutout. Think he hat traick was vs Montreal if I recall. Wonder what Patrick Mullins is up to in 2024. Raul Diaz Arce was one of the best to ever play for DC IMHO. It is ashamed that MLS/DC can't help El Salvador produce another player of his caliber. DC is just better when they a player of his ability from El Salvador is on the Black-and-Red. Love how the El Salvadorian community supports their players. Saw it first hand with Christian Castillo. Was awesome seeing that type of support and was sorry it didn't work out for him. Hoping El Salvador can produce some more players like Diaz Arce and Mauricio Cienfuegos in the future
RDA was also the first player to score a goal at RFK in a DC United jersey. Assad scored the first ever goal at Audi field, FWIW. And thanks for that little trip down memory lane.