Chivas USA wobbly atop Examiner.com MLS ballot

June 11, 12:48 AMLos Angeles Galaxy ExaminerRichard Manfredi

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The Houston Dynamo are on the move in the rankings.
(AP Photo/The Houston Chronicle, Melissa Phillip)

This week's Examiner.com MLS Power Rankings is now live, and the Los Angeles Galaxy have jumped to the No. 9 spot after their 2-1 win at Toronto FC on Saturday afternoon. In the interest of fairness and disclosure, I am posting my ballot and brief explanations of each vote. Please comment if you have any issues with my ballot.

Richard Manfredi's Examiner MLS Power Rankings: Through Week 12

1. Chivas USA: I'm still not convinced in any way, shape or form that they are the best team in the MLS, but they won, so it's hard for me to drop them from the top spot.

2. Houston: How much more impressive can you get than beating Chicago on the road (I'll take your missing Cuauhtemoc Blanco and raise you a missing Brian Ching)? How about taking down Chivas USA this week. Do so, and there will be no question who the top team in the league is.

3. Colorado: Tying a floundering Real Salt Lake is hardly a vote of confidence, but they did so without Conor Casey and Pablo Mastroeni. Give them credit for being gutty under pressure.

4. Chicago: The shine is off for the Fire, who backed up their demolition at the hands of FC Dallas with another punchless performance against Houston.

5. Columbus: The Crew have quietly built an eight-match unbeaten streak, including last weekend's road victory against stumbling Kansas City. Guillermo Barros Schelotto is starting to roll, and the defense added its first shutout of the season.

6. DC United: Finally starting to look like you thought United should have looked like all season, as they poured it on early and often against the Red Bulls.

7. Seattle: The bloom continues to fall off the rose for the Sounders, who seemed to lose all enthusiasm after giving up a first-half goal against the run of play to Chivas USA on Saturday.

8. New England: How much of a difference does a healthy Taylor Twellman make? Apparently a lot, as the Revs crushed the Red Bulls in the second half after Twellman made his appearance into the game.

9. Los Angeles: Two big breakthroughs for Bruce Arena's side: getting a win on the road, and proving they can be effective without Landon Donovan. Could this really be a playoff team?

10. Toronto: Continuing to fall apart after a great early start. Where is the leadership on this team?

11. Kansas City: Any improvements we had seen from the Wizards seem to have completely gone away as Kansas City backed up a disappointing draw with Los Angeles with a listless home shutout loss to Columbus.

12. Real Salt Lake: Fabian Espindola added some spark to the line-up, but they let two points slip away by giving up a late equalizer to Colorado.

13. FC Dallas: Showing real signs of improvement after the horrendous start to the season.

14. San Jose: Getting Darren Huckerby back has been a big help to the Earthquakes, who backed up their win last weekend with a road draw against FC Dallas.

15. New York: They've gone from bad to pathetic after their train wreck second half performance against New England. Road games against Toronto and Columbus this month could bury them.