Campos’ Return All Too Brief: Galaxy Loses Again

Cat and mouse games, that’s what the Galaxy season has turned into.

Last Sunday, when goalkeeper Jorge Campos decided to take a few more days off instead of showing up at the Rose Bowl, teammate Dan Calichman said that didn’t surprise the players at all.

“We didn’t expect Campos to be here,” Calichman said. “We weren’t going, ‘Oh, my God, here comes Campos to save the day.’ He’s not Mighty Mouse.”

On Saturday night, the mouse showed up in Pasadena, resplendent in a startling bright blue outfit.

He got a mighty cheer from the fans.

He made several fine saves.

And, then, with the Galaxy leading the Kansas City Wizards, 1-0, and only 24 minutes to play, he got a red card.

Enter the cat.

Earlier in the day, Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander had waived backup goalkeeper David Kramer of Fresno State, deciding to make former UCLA keeper Kevin Hartman his new No. 2.

Nicknamed “El Gato” by the local Spanish press on the strength of some catlike saves against Aston Villa of England in an exhibition two weeks ago, Hartman was quickly introduced to the real world.

Within 20 minutes, a 1-0 lead turned into a 3-1 defeat, causing the crowd of 17,246 that had been chanting “Ga-lax-y, Ga-lax-y” half an hour before to boo the team off the field.

This was a game that should have been won. Instead, the Galaxy falls to 3-8 one-third of the way through its second Major League Soccer season and travels to play the Revolution in New England without Campos, who will serve a one-game suspension.

Kansas City, which has beaten the Galaxy three times this season, improves to 6-4.

For the first hour, it seemed Osiander had made the correct moves when he shook up his starting lineup. He benched forwards Eduardo Hurtado, Welton and Harut Karapetyan, as well as midfielder/defender Danny Pena.

The result, for whatever reason, was a calmer, more thoughtful, less kick-and-rush approach.

Not great, by any means, but an improvement.

And when the Galaxy took the lead, in the 55th minute, it seemed the season was about to turn around. Mauricio Cienfuegos passed the ball back to Martin Machon, who slipped it to Cobi Jones on his right. Jones danced past a defender, crossed the ball back into the goalmouth and Bryan Taylor was on hand to slide it into the net for his first Major League Soccer goal.

The Galaxy kept pressuring, while the Wizards relied on the counterattack. They were rewarded in the 66th minute when Preki broke free with only Campos to beat. The Galaxy goalie rushed out of his area and blocked Preki’s shot.

Referee Kevin Terry had no choice but to red-card Campos for intentionally handling the ball outside the goal area.

Jones came off so that Hartman could come on, and the Galaxy was faced with trying to protect its 1-0 lead with only 10 men and a rookie keeper playing only his second MLS game.

In the 71st, Digital Takawira beat a couple of players and passed to Paul Wright, who faked Robin Fraser and sent a shot just inside the right post past the diving Hartman. That made it 1-1.

Osiander, who had brought Hurtado on in place of Taylor in the 64th minute, now brought Karapetyan on in place of Machon in the 76th minute.

The changes helped offensively, but the disturbed lineup caused the defense to cave in.

In the 87th minute, after the Galaxy several times had come close to scoring, Kansas City created a three-on-two break, and Takawira scored off Preki’s pass. That made it 2-1 in the Wizards’ favor.

In the 89th minute, Galaxy defender Greg Vanney carelessly headed the ball back to a spot where Hartman wasn’t. The ball rolled into the net for an own goal. That made it 3-1.

It was a comical ending.

Something that belongs on the cartoon network. A cat and mouse game.

Or a Tom & Jerry show.