By Will Kuhns, senior editor COLORADO TRICKLES: Following his team's 2-1 loss to New England, Colorado coach Tim Hankinson fired a few warning shots toward his defenders, particularly the experienced central tandem of Robin Fraser and Rick Titus. ''They are soft, it is as simple as that,'' Hankinson told the Denver Post. ''New England had only one chance in the first half and we got beat to our mark. That is not good enough. Either players have to step up and start playing to their abilities or we have to start looking for new players. It is as simple as that.'' This comes after Hankinson already made his team run laps after a 4-1 loss to Dallas in its last match and promised stricter team rules for travelling. BIG MAMA'S NEW HOUSE: MetroStars forward Mamadou Diallo notched the sixth four-goal performance by an MLS player in his team's 5-0 dismantling of Los Angeles at Giants Stadium. Diallo scored four in a game once before — in a 4-4 tie on May 9 last year, also against the Galaxy. L.A.'s WORST: The Galaxy had never been shut out by a five-goal margin in its history. Only eight times have teams been shut out and lost by five goals or more (home team listed first): Kansas City 0, Chicago 7 (July 4, 2001)
Kansas City 6, MetroStars 0 (June 20, 1999)
D.C. United 5, Colorado 0 (June 7, 1997)
Chicago 5, Colorado 0 (May 23, 1998)
MetroStars 0, D.C. United 5 (Sept. 16, 1998)
Chicago 5, Colorado 0 (Aug. 8, 1999)
Colorado 0, Kansas City 5 (Apr. 29, 2000)
MetroStars 5, Los Angeles 0 (June 15, 2002)
NEW LEADERS: Dallas forward Jason Kreis and New England forward Taylor Twellman overtook Galaxy marksman Carlos Ruiz in the league scoring race this weekend. Kries, with two goals against Chicago, has 10 goals and one assist while Twellman had a goal and an assist against Colorado to achieve the same totals and 21 points. Ruiz has 20 points while Ante Razov and Ariel Graziani round out top five with 19 points apiece.