DENVER -- The Washington Nationals turned their clubhouse into a postgame rave scene, complete with blaring music, fog machine and dancing lights. A dazzling display -- almost as eye catching as their performance on the field. Ian Desmond tied a career high with five hits, including a two-run homer, and Doug Fister threw effectively into the sixth to help the Nationals beat the sinking Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Monday night. They were in quite a festive mood, too, as they took over sole possession in the NL East with Atlantas loss. "Anytime we win, its a great day," Fister said as he explained the light show. "We want to make sure we get that winning feeling." The 6-foot-8 Fister (9-2) -- all "elbows and knees" as Charlie Blackmon described him -- allowed nine hits before being pulled with two outs in the sixth after running into trouble. Desmond had four singles -- including one off the arm of reliever LaTroy Hawkins in the ninth -- to go with his 17th homer of the season. His approach at the plate is quite simple: "I just look for the ball and swing as hard as I can." The last time Desmond had five hits in a game was Sept. 15, 2011, at the New York Mets. "Kind of the way its been going for me lately," Desmond said. Franklin Morales (5-5) didnt pitch all that bad, except for one inning. He surrendered all four of his runs -- three earned -- in the fourth. "Other than that, he threw the ball well," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. Ben Paulsen had two hits and drove in a run in his major league debut for the Rockies, whove lost six straight and fell into a tie with Texas for the worst mark in the majors (40-59). Fister was cruising along until the sixth when the Rockies rallied for two runs on RBI singles from Nolan Arenado and Paulsen to make it 4-2. With the bases loaded and two outs, Nationals manager Matt Williams summoned Aaron Barrett from the bullpen to face pinch hitter Brandon Barnes. Barrett struck out Barnes with a slider in the dirt. "That was kind of, in my eyes, the turning point in the game," Desmond said. The Rockies had a little bit of a scare in that inning when Carlos Gonzalez was tagged out trying to slide into third base. He stayed down on the dirt for several minutes, clutching both wrists after jamming them into the ground. Gonzalez had surgery on his left index finger earlier this season and missed more than a month. He stayed in the game, but had a scrape on his right arm. "I dont know what else can happen this year," Gonzalez said. Washington padded its lead in the seventh on an RBI single from Wilson Ramos. Desmond later scored on a wild pitch. Colorado was missing several big bats from its lineup as Troy Tulowitzki missed a second straight game with a sore left thigh. Earlier in the day, Justin Morneau was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained neck. Taking Morneaus place at first was Paulsen, who was called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs. Hes the ninth different player to make his debut with the team in 2014. Paulsen lined a single to left in his first plate appearance. After Fister received the ball on the mound, he tossed it to a bat boy as a keepsake for Paulsen. Washington finally solved Morales in the fourth, scoring four times. Desmond gave Fister all the run support the right-hander would require with a two-run homer to left. Danny Espinosa drove in another run with a double and later scored when Morales tried to pick off Fister at first and threw the ball down the right-field line. Blackmon led off the first with a double, but Fister managed to escape. Fister struck out Gonzalez with a 79-mph changeup to end the inning. "You know you have to keep the ball down," Fister said. "Thats something we focused on a lot tonight." NOTES: Williams called OF Bryce Harpers day off "a one-day thing." Harper entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh and struck out, then briefly argued with the home-plate umpire over whether he foul tipped the pitch. Williams pulled Harper away. ... RHP Jordan Zimmermann (6-5), who left his last start with a cramp in his right biceps, will start Tuesday. The Rockies will throw LHP Yohan Flande (0-2). ... A woman was hit in the head when the bat slipped out of Gonzalezs hands in the fourth. She was escorted from her seat. Cheap Arsenal Jerseys . Cruz set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning, and Baltimore scored eight times in the eighth to pull away for a 12-3 victory in Game 1. The major league leader with 40 homers during the regular season, Cruz added an RBI single to his early blast off Max Scherzer. Cheap Borussia Dortmund Jerseys . - Roger Federer squandered a big lead and lost to No. http://www.chinasoccerjerseys.com/. Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist as the New York Islanders earned a 2-1 win over Ottawa Wednesday, leaving the Senators five points out of a playoff spot with just five games to play and four teams ahead of them. Cheap Soccer Jerseys . -- First baseman Carlos Pena and outfielder Brennan Boesch have signed minor league deals with the Los Angeles Angels. Wholesale Football Jerseys .com) - Scott Parel carded a 5-under 65 on Thursday and he grabbed a 1-stroke lead after one round of the season-opening Panama Claro Championship.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 wiill result in a warning letter being sent to the player.dddddddddddd 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? ' ' '