Ruiz, Double-T out 4-6 months

New England (and sometimes USA) striker Taylor Twellman will be out four-to-six months with torn cartilage in his right knee. Revolution doctors said Tuesday that the 2005 MLS MVP will undergo arthroscopic surgery on the injury, which was sustained in training last week, tomorrow. Steve Ralston is also sidelined with a dislocated shoulder that he sustained in his side's 3-0 win over Houston on Saturday.

Second-time Galaxy guy Carlos Ruiz will also be out four-to-six after also suffering a right knee meniscus tear in Saturday's humiliating 4-0 loss to Colorado.

It will be a difficult adjustment for the Revolution, but perhaps not as difficult as one would have imagined prior to Saturday's match that might have been a preview of two of Twellman's replacements had he gone to Europe this summer -- Adam Cristman and Sainey Nyassi. As for the Galaxy, Alexi Lalas better work the phones to get some scoring help because Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon and rookie Ely Allen won't get the job done in Ruiz's absence. Of course, after this recent interview, I'm not sure who would answer the phone.

Alexi Lalas: Every coach and every team wants a proven striker that they can rely on. We're no different. Carlos is here to score goals. What he did in the past is only used to hedge our bets. Carlos is a more mature player and person since we last saw him in L.A. He needs to lead on and off the field and I believe he will.

Ouch.

Here are the highlights of the Revolution's 3-0 dismantling of the defending MLS Cup champions.

MLS to PNE: Jog on! (updated)

In another sign that the American league is headed in the right direction, Major League Soccer has twice denied English club Preston North End’s attempts to secure New England striker Taylor Twellman, according to Yanks Abroad.

According to YA, PNE, cellar dwellers in England’s Championship division (second-tier), offered a $1.5 million for Double-T, and then upped the offer to $2 million.

This is the right move for MLS. The league cannot allow itself to become the farm system for lower divisions in Europe. As one of MLS’s stars, it would be a ridiculous decision to allow Twellman to move to English obscurity.

It would hurt the league, in terms of removing both consistent scorer and a recognizable face, and it would hurt the national team because the no matter what some pale-faced, peanut-brittle-toothed Brit says, the quality of MLS is far superior to England’s Championship and it’s not as far away from the EPL as one might think.

But according to Washington Post uber-blogger Steve Goff, Twellman's not happy and claims the offer rose to $2.5 million. He quotes Double-T in a recent post:

"I want to go. It's perfect timing. It's the right club and, being 27, it's the right time to go to Europe."

"When I ask MLS, they say the Revs rejected it. When I ask the Revs, they said it was MLS. Look, you're not going to get more than that for a guy like me, who is not always with the national team. It's a good offer. Anytime a team wants you that bad, of course you want to go."