Ink

It's hard to leave points on the pitch. It's even harder when you're starring up at the playoff pile from the lowest rung on the ladder.

The Wizards 0-0 draw with Colorado* won't knock them completely out of the playoffs, but man it would've been nice to at least get a win and make a strong statement.

*BTW, you tell me how they lost this game. Outshot them 18-12 and controlled time of possession. Ugh. That's just vomit city.

Today's song that explains how I feel about this game is brought to you by DeVotchKa. And it's called "How It Ends."

And, while I don't want to overreact as much as everyone seems to have done over Jenny Slate's "f-bomb" slip on SNL this past Saturday night (c'mon, it was 1 a.m. Eastern, let's just get on with our lives), I have to admit, my faith is fading fast.

We made it from the bottom into the playoffs last year. This year, well, it's hard to think of a remake that does well.

Halloween. I Am Legend. Godzilla. Superman Returns. The Longest Yard. Bad News Bears. Ocean's 13. Psycho. The Ring. I can go on, but I'll just stop there.

Remakes are usually giant piles of mess.*

*They haven't even started filming it, and I'm already vehemently opposed to remaking "The Highlander."

The 2008 Wizards struggled all season long to stay consistent, including enduring a putrid stretch of August soccer that left them adrift at the bottom of the playoff race in September. Then coach Curt Onalfo made a very strong tactical decision to sit then-designated player Claudio Lopez on the bench. The front office made a slightly less-strong (but equally important) decision to pick up midfielder Herculez Gomez to insert on the wing.

That team went on to bust 10 points out of their last five games and sneak into the last spot in the playoffs. Those two moves made a world of difference. And the team looked like serious contenders (at least until Columbus came into town and shoved a goal down our throats).

The 2009 Wizards struggled all season long to stay consistent, including enduring a beyond wretched stretch of August soccer that left them adrift near the bottom of the standings. The front office made a strong tactical decision to fire then-coach Curt Onalfo. Then made a slightly less-strong (but equally as important) decision to pick up forward Kei Kamara.

We've yet to really see how this is going to pan out, but if they are going to make a run, they've got to earn no less than 12 points -- winning every game from here on out -- and have a few teams in front of them lose.

Same script, flipped, a bit.

But don't kid yourself. This is doomed. The reasons are two fold.

First: The schedule is far stronger this year. In '08 the Wizards lost to Chivas, tied Chicago and then beat New England, San Jose and New England again in their last five games. In '09, they started their last five games by tying Colorado, visit Houston next week, then at Chivas, then home for Seattle and D.C. United. Every one of those teams is in the playoff hunt.*

*Well, DC United keeps dropping points and might fall off the face of the earth. Yet to be determined if this matters or not.

Beating New England (twice) and San Jose weren't difficult. We tend to have New England's number and San Jose were quite bad. The tie against Chicago was our only tricky result.

We need to get to 40 points to get in the hunt and we really need 42 points to assure our spot. The Wizards currently have 31 points. So, winning out is the best-case scenario.

My best guess for this year? Beating DC and Chivas (both sorta likely given our form) but losing to Seattle and Houston. Likely results? Beating Chivas, losing to Seattle and Houston, tying DC United.

Second: The West is stronger this year. The top two teams in each conference automatically qualify for the playoffs. The next four are determined based on total points regardless of conference. Last year, five East teams made the playoffs. This year, it might flip to the West. Chivas, Colorado, Real Salt Lake, Seattle, Houston and Los Angeles all look like potential playoff squads. Squeezing out all bu the top two East teams, Columbus and Chicago.

This doesn't mean I'm not going to ride this one out — despite my hatred for them, I'm a sucker for remakes.

I've just lowered my expectations: I'm only expecting the lads to battle for pride and pride alone.

At least pride still matters.

Stray observations:

-- Herculez Gomez wasn't in Peter Vermes' top 18. Why is this? Well, officially it's being called a coaches decision. I wonder if it's a reluctance to bench Davy Arnaud or Jack Jewsbury to make room for Kei Kamara in the starting lineup. It sure would've been nice to have Gomez's energy and pace as the Wizards were trying to pick out a goal.*

*Of course, it would've been nice to have ANYONE come off the bench to provide a spark. This is the first game I can remember watching where only one sub was used the entire game. And that only came because Josh Wolff couldn't return after getting busted in the face and bleeding everywhere.

-- Vermes is hellbent for Leathers. Speaking of weird coaching decisions, Lance Watson (my favorite Mark Wahlberg look-alike) has joined Gomez outside of the top 18. What gives? Scrappy-do was easily our best player in August (which is like being the tallest, um, I'm going to stop that joke before I get in trouble) and now he's on the bench and Jonathan Leathers (nice player, not the same motor) is our right back.

-- This all leads me to some speculation. At the end of the season, there's going to be an expansion draft for the incoming Philadelphia Union. The rules haven't been released as of yet, but if they are the same as last year, we get to protect 11 players not including our Generation Adidas players. (Which means Roger Espinoza and Chance Myers are automatically protected.)

Here's my best guess on our protections:

• Davy Arnaud
• Jimmy Conrad
• Kevin Hartman
• Matt Besler
• Michael Harrington
• Jack Jewsbury
• Jonathan Leathers
• Josh Wolff
• Zoltan
• Santiago Hirsig
• Kei Kamara

I'd protect Wolff and Hirsig over Claudio Lopez, because I don't think Philly would take Lopez when they could possibly take one of the following: Gomez, Watson, Aaron Hohlbein and Adam Cristman. if I had to guess, Gomez and Cristman are the most likely to be picked up.