I don’t know what to say about the Revolution’s strange lack of sharpness or passion on Sunday in the noontime LA sun. With playoff places on the line and a six-point swing with Chivas USA at stake, one would think the Revs would have had more edge to their play. Strange.

What’s clear is that they really missed Shalrie Joseph out there. The big man just provides a level of belief that comes with his strength on the ball and in the tackle, his skill, vision and leadership. But because of a nonsensical referee’s decision early in the previous game against Kansas City, there was no Shalrie.

Now, the Revs are going to be without Edgaras Jankauskas for the game against the Red Bulls on Friday night.  Are the referees aware that these are professional players? What Carey Talley and Edgar did to one another in no way constituted the kind of confrontation that warranted red cards from referee Ricardo Salazar. If they did, multiple players could be sent off on every corner kick. At most, a pair of yellows would have served to settle down a situation that did not in any way appear to be boiling over. Why not do everything you can to keep the players on this field?

Then , Salazar booked Wells Thompson for what was a cheeky and unecessary foul but was also the Revs’ winger’s first foul committed in the game. This after Edgar had been hacked, kneed and mauled for most of the game without Talley or Yamith Cuesta being yellow carded or even (from what I could see) warned.

Salazar took his display even further when we awarded the penalty on Eduardo Lillington’s fantastic dive in stoppage time. First of all, what’s with some of these guys? Lillingston could have likely scored if he just kept his feet. Check this newsclip out if you haven’t already – academics now say they can tell when a player is hitting the deck on purpose.

Now if Lillingston’s flop wasn’t the definition of the “archer’s bow” position, I’ll buy Eduardo a pint at the old Bow & Arrow pub. (Note: That’s Eduardo Lillingston. Eduardo da Silva already got his sentence overturned.)

Salazar then strangely didn’t give Reis a red card. Why? Either that play was Reis denying Lillingston an obvious goal-scoring opportunity OR it was a dive by the Chivas USA player. The fact that the ref tried to split the difference means that: a. He sensed there was some jiggery pokery by Eduardo, b. He wanted to give Reis a partial let off, c. He felt empowered to make his own interpretation of the laws of the game even though, as I understand them, there is no room for interpretation, d. He doesn’t totally understand the rules (the spirit or the letter), e. All of the above.

Now the Revs are hardly the only victims of the strange and capricious refereeing decisions we’ve seen this season (and this season has been the worst I’ve even seen, by far). And I’m by no means blaming this loss on Salazar. The Revs were outplayed – just look at the shots on goal stat (10-0 in favor of Chivas USA).

But the fact that the Revs have been robbed of two of their top players for a combined three games in this important stretch run – for NOTHING fouls – means the Revs are being robbed, in my view, of a fair shake in their effort to compete for a playoffs spot.

Guests on In the Net this week include Jack Bell of the New York Times and Revs play-by-play man, yes play-by-play man, Greg Lalas.