By Will Kuhns, senior editor BEST GOALS: D.C.'s Ryan Nelsen gets an honorable mention for his glancing header of a Petter Villegas cross — his second goal of the game and the gamewinner. Top honors, however, belong to Richard Mulrooney's 28-yard bullet off the underside of the crossbar that doused Kansas City's hopes of a rally and capped San Jose's 3-0 victory. THE HORSES ARE ON THE TRACK: With his third two-goal performance in five games, Ariel Graziani joined an already crowded field in the goalscoring race. In each of the previous six seasons, no more than three players have finished the season with a goals-per-game average of 0.60 or greater. So far this season, seven players are netting at least that pace: PLAYER (TEAM) GAMES GOALS GPG Carlos Ruiz (LA) 10 10 1.00 Taylor Twellman (NE) 10 9 0.90 Jason Kreis (DAL) 11 8 0.72 Ante Razov (CHI) 11 8 0.72 Ariel Graziani (SJ) 12 8 0.67 Jeff Cunningham (CLB) 9 6 0.67 Mark Chung (COL) 10 6 0.60 RHINE SHINES: Scoreless in his first nine matches this season, Dallas forward Bobby Rhine, notched a hat trick to lead the Burn to a 4-1 victory over Colorado. In his career, Rhine had eight goals in 66 games before Saturday. KIWI QUALITY: Nelsen, a New Zealander, scored his first two MLS goals and added an assist. Previously, Nelson had three assists in 26 career games. SMACKED DOWN, SENT OFF: Los Angeles' Peter Vagenas received an open-handed swat across the face from Ante Razov in the second half of the Galaxy's win. When he finally rose from the ground, Vagenas found his second yellow card of the game for shirt-pulling. Referee Kevin Terry issued Razov only a caution for his retaliatory swat. WEST BESTS REST? Despite being reduced to 10 men for the last 20 minutes, Los Angeles was able to hold on for a 1-0 victory against Chicago that moved the Galaxy even with the Fire in the overall standings. Now, four of the five Western Conference teams have as many or more points in the standings as Chicago, the East leader. This occidental dominance will be tested this Saturday when all five MLS games are an East vs. West match-up.
