ecisions. After Frazier doubled to start Cincinnatis late rally, Ryan

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, So Shawn Thornton gets a slap on the wrist for the water squirting incident - a childish, unsportsmanlike and potentially dangerous act, but players can get two minutes for spraying the goalie with snow when sometimes inadvertently just trying to stop quickly? In your opinion, should the NHL ever consider taking a more serious look at such actions and add them as an infraction in the rule book? Mike Cimba Mike: The Player Safety Committee should be commended for their swift action to impose the maximum permitted fine under the CBA ($2,820.52) against Shawn Thornton for his childish, television viewer unsightly, unsportsmanlike and potentially dangerous act of water bottle squirting at PK Subban. I am quite sure an incident of this nature will never happen again given the maximum allowable supplementary discipline and public humiliation that has been imposed against Thornton (sic sarcasm intended). Now that this bug on the visor of Subban has been wiped clean and severely dealt with, perhaps the PSC, Hockey Operations and the Officiating Department can focus their attention on more important issues that have been continually exposed to this point in the playoffs? For starters Mike, additional rules dont need to written until the ones that already exist are more consistently enforced; or even just applied. If the referee determined that Subban had been legitimately interfered with by a spray from a water bottle in Thorntons hands (Heaven forbid) the ref could have applied a broad interpretation to rule 56.2: a minor penalty shall be imposed on any identifiable player on the players bench or penalty bench who, by means of his stick or his body, interferes with the movements of the puck or any opponent on the ice during the progress of the play (Thorntons hands are attached to his body). Likewise, the same rule 75 - unsportsmanlike conduct, that is applied (sometimes) against a player deemed guilty of deliberately snow-showering a goalie could also be imposed in the case of a player deliberately squirting water in the face of his opponent. With the multitude of infractions that are being let go throughout extended portions of these games I cant imagine any referee imposing a penalty for this squirt of liquid. With regard to player safety however, it appears to be a serious and unwanted element of the game. So too was diving/embellishment once upon a time. Embellishment was deemed a plague within the game and language was added to rule 64.3 that provided authority for Hockey Operations to review game videos and assess fines to players who dive or embellish a fall or a reaction, or who feign injury regardless if a penalty was called on the ice. The punishment for the first such offence during the season will result in a warning letter being sent to the player. The second such incident will result in a $1,000 fine. For the third such incident in the season, the player shall be suspended for one game, pending a telephone conversation with the Director of Hockey Operations. For subsequent violations in the same season, the players suspension shall double (i.e. first suspension - one game, second suspension - two games, third suspension - four games, etc.) When was the last time you read that a player had been fined for diving/embellishment let alone suspended? I have seen some known offenders embellish as many as three times in one game during these playoffs. Im not suggesting for a second that players should be suspended for the letter of the law that this rule empowers Hockey Operations. What I am suggesting is to focus on the real important issues beyond a squirt from a water bottle. Lets start with an acceptable and expected standard of enforcement from the referees throughout a playoff game that is more consistent with those employed during the regular season. The rulebook has not changed from the regular season but the application and standard of enforcement by most of the referees clearly has. Powerful stick slashes that broke a players stick was almost always called; as the playoffs progress they are seldom called and have even resulted in goals being scored. Obvious infractions have been let go; major infractions have been let go or deemed to be a minor penalty. The latest such example was the major boarding infraction by Brandon Bollig on Keith Ballard that was deemed to be a minor penalty by the referee on the ice. Bollig was subsequently and correctly suspended for two games by the Player Safety Committee for this dangerous hit that injured Ballard. As far as I am concerned they got in wrong by not responding in kind to the chicken-wing elbow delivered by Jared Spurgeon of the Wild to the head of Marcus Kruger. Kruger was pulling his upper body back and up after shooting the puck on goal. Spurgeon was going to miss his intended check and responded by leaving his skates and extending his elbow to initiate contact with the head of Kruger. Kruger staggered of the ice and went directly to be evaluated in the quiet of the Hawks dressing room. Spearing incidents and howdy-dos between the legs have on occasion resulted in the assessment of penalties. Sidney Crosby provided a pretty good howdy to Dominic Moore that went un-penalized and resulted in a scrum at the end of the second period in yesterdays Rangers 3-1 win over the Penguins. In an attempt to keep all things in perspective, it would appear that a squirt off the bench with a water bottle will result in the maximum allowable fine being levied by the Player Safety Committee. Perhaps just a letter to Thornton would have sufficed; all things being equal? Padres Jerseys 2019 . - Chris Davis hit a two-run double, scoring Nelson Cruz in his Orioles debut in Baltimores 9-7 win over to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. Custom San Diego Padres Jerseys . As each game passes (each has played close with the exception of last night) it becomes clearer just how evenly matched these two teams are and how one mistake, or one bad inning, is likely to sway the result. https://www.cheappadresjerseys.us/ . Maximilian Arnold put Wolfsburg ahead in the eighth minute, when the stationary Fallou Diagne allowed him to guide Patrick Ochs cross beyond the helpless Freiburg goalkeeper, and Ivica Olic doubled the lead three minutes later after Luiz Gustavo did well to set him up. Padres Jerseys China . Fabio Fognini pulled off a surprise 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray to level the best-of-five quarterfinal at 2-2 before Andreas Seppi defeated James Ward 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive match. Fake Padres Jerseys .com) - The Dallas Mavericks had a five-game winning streak snapped last time out, but theyll try to get back into the winners circle Sunday evening when the Milwaukee Bucks pay a visit to American Airlines Center.Having just snapped their longest losing streak in 20 years, the Boston Red Sox will try to make it two in a row Tuesday night when they resume their home-and-away series with the Atlanta Braves. Watch the game live on TSN2 and TSN GO at 7pm et/4pm pt. The teams will finish off a two-game set at Turner Field Tuesday night, then head to Fenway Park for two more on Wednesday and Thursday. Boston picked up a much-needed 8-6 victory on Monday to snap a 10-game slide, its longest since an 11-game skid from June 8-19, 1994. David Ortiz did most of the heavy lifting with a three-run homer that tied the game in the fifth inning, then a sacrifice fly in the seventh to put the Red Sox in front. Dustin Pedroia, who had been struggling along with Ortiz, also drove in a pair of runs and finished 1-for-3. "In 10 games prior to today, theres one RBI combined (from Pedroia and Ortiz)," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "Today there is six between the two. I think the outcome is directly correlated to their performance. Thats not to put it all on them because we had a lot of good at-bats all the way up and down the lineup today. But them being in the middle of the lineup, their contributions are key for us." The Red Sox used seven different pitchers to get the job done as starter Clay Buchholz was pulled after only three innings as he allowed six runs and a staggering eight walks. Braves starter Ervin Santana went five innings and was also charged with six runs. "We know we still have the core of a winning team here and were going to win," Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said before Mondays win. "But weve got to get there. Weve got to focus on today and just try to start playing a little bit better first." Atlanta has split its last six games overall and currently owns a two-game lead over Miami in the National League East. The Braves will send veteran Aaron Harang to the mound for Tuesdays game. Harang began the year with a 0.85 ERA through five starts, but he has gone 1-3 with a 6.11 ERA over his last five. He faced Milwaukee last week and gave up four earned runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings for a no-decision. It was only the second time in his last 10 starts that Harang gave up more than two earned runs. Boston will counter with ace Jon Lester, who has yielded three earned runs or fewer in eight of his 10 starts. Like Harang, Lester is coming off a subpar outing as he gave up a season-high seven runs over the first two innings against Toronto. "I dont think were excelling in any one area, but I do think we have players capable of excelling and some of that is going to happen naturally," said Cherington. "There are other things that maybe you can do at some point to try to make the whole thing a lot better. "What we believed this offseason, what we believed in Spring Training, in terms of potential of this team, the position were in with people in the clubhouse, the depth of the talent -- that hasnt changed. We just have to perform. We have to find ways to perform better, and thats going to come in a number of ways." Boston has won 15 of the last 20 meetings in the head-to-head series. Reds at Dodgers, 10pm et/7pm pt (TSN2) Zack Greinke will try to keep the mound presence going for the Los Angeles Dodgers when they resume a three-game series versus the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday from Chavez Ravine. Greinke has to follow two superb outings from teammates Josh Beckett and Hyun- Jin Ryu when he makes his 11th start of the season.dddddddddddd Beckett started LAs current pitching trend with a no-hitter Sunday at Philadelphia and retired 23 straight at one point. It was Ryus turn in Mondays 4-3 win over the Reds and he followed suit by retiring the first 21 batters he faced until Todd Fraziers double in the eighth inning. Ryu came within six outs of a perfect game and finished with three runs allowed across 7 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out seven and walked none, and also added an RBI and a run scored. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly believed Ryu running the bases wore him down. "That long inning hurt him," Mattingly said of Ryu. "It broke the momentum for him. At the end of the night, we got the win." Kenley Jansen threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for his 15th save. Carl Crawfords two-run double highlighted a three-run seventh inning and he finished with two hits for the Dodgers, winners in three of four and eight of their last 13 games. The Dodgers will also host Pittsburgh and Chicago (White Sox) on this 10-game homestand. Greinke will try to pitch Los Angeles to its third straight win and he is 7-1 in 10 starts with a 2.01 earned run average. Greinke is coming off a no- decision in Thursdays 5-3 loss to the New York Mets and he was tagged for three runs -- one earned -- in five innings. Greinke snapped his streak of 21 straight starts allowing two runs or fewer. However, he has allowed two or fewer earned runs in a record 22 consecutive regular-season starts since July 30, 2013, going 14-2 with a 1.76 earned run average in that time. He surpassed Roger Clemens mark of 21 from 1990-91. The right-hander is 3-0 in four home outings and has a 4-1 record to go along with a 2.62 ERA in eight career starts against Cincinnati. Cincinnati opened a seven-game western swing with Mondays loss at Dodger Stadium and Frazier was able to spoil the show with his hit in the eighth. Reds ace Johnny Cueto was dealt the loss for surrendering four runs, one of which was earned, and four hits in 6 1/3 innings. Cueto was outdueled by Ryu and fell to 4-4 with his second straight loss after winning four straight decisions. After Frazier doubled to start Cincinnatis late rally, Ryan Ludwick singled and Chris Heisey followed with a sacrifice fly to put the visitors on the board. Brayan Pena then singled and Skip Schumaker walked one out later before Billy Hamilton stroked a two-run double. The Reds had two runners on base in the ninth, but Devin Mesoraco flied out to end the game. "Our silver lining was we rallied late," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We have to hang tough. Weve played a lot of close games, but unfortunately weve come out on the short end." Cincinnati has lost three in a row since winning three of four games, and will send Alfredo Simon against Greinke Tuesday night. Simon is 6-2 with a 2.31 earned run average in nine starts and is 5-1 in the past six decisions. He won his second straight start in last Wednesdays 2-1 victory at Washington and delivered seven innings of one-run ball. Simon struck out six and walked one for the second straight start. He has 14 Ks over that span. The right-hander has been strong on the road this season, winning all five assignments, and will make his first career start against the Dodgers. He has allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings of relief (2 games). LA lost four of seven meetings with the Reds last season. Cincinnati has lost its last two series at Dodger Stadium. ' ' '