ied an automatic three-game suspension for any play

BALTIMORE -- It was one of those rare days when everything went right for the Houston Astros. Houston took an early lead and added to it late. The starting pitching was solid. The bullpen was nearly perfect. The result was a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday that enabled the young Astros to avert a three-game sweep. "Overall, a good team win," manager Bo Porter said. Jason Castro and Marc Krauss homered to account for all of Houstons offence, and Jarred Cosart (2-3) allowed two runs over six innings for the Astros, who had lost seven of eight before ending Baltimores five-game winning streak. Castro hit a three-run homer off Chris Tillman (3-2) in the first inning, and the Astros made the advantage stand up. "When we can come out and score early, thats really when were at our best," Castro said. "It kind of gives some of the young staff a little bit of a breather from the beginning." It was 3-2 before Krauss connected against T.J. McFarland with a runner on in the seventh. "Those are the runs we have not been able to get," Porter said. "Those tack-on runs that give you an extra cushion, make it a three-run lead instead of a one-run lead. That was a huge home run." Houston is 11-11 when it hits a home run and 1-15 when it doesnt. Although the Astros bullpen came in with a 6.21 ERA, Tony Sipp struck out five in two perfect innings and Chad Qualls worked a hitless ninth for his second save. "I have confidence no matter who they put in behind me that they can get the job done," Cosart said. Jose Altuve had three hits for the Astros, who improved to 6-12 against the Orioles -- including 2-10 at Camden Yards. Everything seemed to fall into place for the team with the worst record in the major leagues. "Weve played some good baseball the last two days," third baseman Matt Dominguez said. "Pitched the ball well, got some timely hits. Hopefully that can give us a jumpstart." Adam Jones drove in both Baltimore runs, giving him 501 RBIs in 981 career games. Tillman gave up three runs, four hits and a season-high five walks in five innings. The right-hander settled down after issuing three walks and a home run in the first inning, but needed 105 pitches to get 15 outs. "It was a struggle for me. Fastball command wasnt there for me from the get-go," Tillman said. "It was a battle all day." Before the game, the Orioles activated Chris Davis (strained left oblique) from the 15-day disabled list and put catcher Matt Wieters on the DL with a strained right elbow. Davis went 2 for 4 in his first game since April 25. "Felt good," Davis said. "Timing is a little off, little in-between. But it was definitely good to be in there, moving around again." Houston took a 3-0 lead before Tillman retired a batter. After Altuve and Dexter Fowler walked, Castro hit the right-handers next pitch over the centre-field wall. Tillman has yielded seven first-inning runs this season, his most in any inning. "He kept us in the ballgame and threw some zeros up after that," manager Buck Showalter said. "But it wasnt what hes capable of or what weve come to expect. Or more importantly, what Chris has come to expect." Jones hit a two-run single to get Baltimore to 3-2 in the third. A double by Davis in the fifth put two runners in scoring position, but Jones struck out before Nelson Cruz flied out. NOTES: The Orioles were denied consecutive three-game sweeps for the first time since 2005. They won three in a row at Tampa Bay before facing the Astros. ... The game drew 45,944 fans, the second sellout of the season at Camden Yards. ... Baltimores Nick Markakis singled in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, one short of his career high. ... Tillmans 399th and 400th career strikeouts came against George Springer in the first and third. ... Houstons Alex Presley snapped an 0-for-14 skid with a sixth-inning single. ... Bud Norris takes the mound for Baltimore on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series against Detroit. The Astros return home to face Texas. ... Since coming to Houston from the Padres organization, Sipp has retired all 12 batters hes faced with seven strikeouts. Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys .C. -- Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe is resigning after 13 seasons at the school. Andrei Vasilevskiy Jersey .FIFA said its appeals panel ruled the case not admissible.The former U.S. Attorney had objected to ethics judge Joachim Eckerts summary of the World Cup bid investigation, claiming numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of his work. http://www.lightninghockeystore.us/Tyler-Johnson-Jersey/.com) - Matt Duchene picked up the deciding goal early in the third period and added an assist, as Colorado escaped with a 4-3 victory over Dallas at Pepsi Center. Louis Domingue Lightning Jersey .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. Alex Killorn Lightning Jersey . George Hill had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who stayed atop the overall NBA standings despite losing twice on their West Coast trip. Los Angeles kept it close into the second half before the Pacers finished an easy win over the injury-riddled Lakers, who have lost five straight.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. Kerry, As many have mentioned, Dan Carcillo can get three, 10 or 20 games for hitting linesman Scott Driscoll on Thursday night. Why such a range of suspendable games in the NHL rule book? Also, have you ever been hit by a player like Driscoll was last night? Or did someone come close? Jason,Markham, ON Jason: Its unacceptable and intolerable for a player, under any circumstance, to deliberately apply physical force in any manner against an official! Daniel Carcillo subjected himself to an automatic suspension under rule 40 when he crossed the line and clipped linesman Scott Driscoll with his elbow. Rule 40 is very specific and unique in that it provides authority for the referee (officials) to impose a player suspension; including a varied range of game numbers. The history of this rule is also unique and was implemented following a hard line taken by the NHLOA in 1982, when players that physically abused an official were given a mere slap on the wrist by the League. This is how it all transpired and as I documented in my book, The Final Call. In my second year in the league, there was more than a growing concern that player violence and disrespect against on-ice officials had escalated beyond anything that could be tolerated by the members of the NHLOA. Referee Andy Van Hellemond was the most high-profile target of player abuse, having been crosschecked in the back by Barclay Plager of the St. Louis Blues and then punched in the chest by Paul Holmgren of the Flyers. Van Hellemond, along with Dave Newell, president of the NHLOA, and legal counsel Jim Beatty, pulled NHL president John Ziegler away from the annual office Christmas party in Montreal on Dec. 23, 1981 in an attempt to convey how serious our concerns were. It was felt that if stronger suspensions were imposed, players would refrain from what had been taking place. The league seemed to prefer the status quo. Beatty then wrote a letter to the NHL, which he released to the media, advising that, because the officials feared that their safety was not being adequately provided for (as the league was obligated to do under the CBA) we would begin "working to rule." The letter clarified what that meant: if a fight broke out, the referee and two linesmen would retreat to the safety of the officials crease by the penalty box. When the combatants had finished fighting, they were to make their way to the penalty box and take their respective seats, at which time the referee would assess the appropriate penalties. This "work to rule" lasted one weekend only and quickly got the attention of the league. In my game in Winnipeg that weekend, Jets tough guy Bryan Maxwell fought an opponent behind the net under the big picture of the Queen. I blew my whistle and the linesmen and I went to the officials crease and waited. The punches eventually slow as the players looked for the officials to step in. When that didnt happen, they stopped fighting, picked up their gloves and sticks, and, obeying the commands of my waving arm, took their places in the penalty box for five minutes. By the time the weekend was over, the NHL agreed to act, and, to the satisfaction of the NHLOA, a "blue-ribbon committee" was created to discuss and implement changes. The panel consisted of general managers, coaches, referees, NHL executives and NHLPA Executive Director Alan Eagleson. The group was given the task of fashioning a rule change to take effect, subject to the board of governors approval, at the beginning of the 1982-83 season. Before the current season finished and the panel got to craft a new rule, Van Hellemond was punched again. This time, Terry OReilly hit him with a wicked right cross to the side of the head during a playoff game against the Quebec Nordiques on April 25 (OReilly was suspended for the first 10 games of the next season and fined $500).dddddddddddd. After its deliberations, the blue-ribbon committee put forward a tough policy known as Rule 67. This rule called for an automatic 20-game suspension for any player who, "deliberately strikes, or who deliberately applies physical force in any manner against an official." It also specified an automatic three-game suspension for any player who "physically demeans" an official or who "deliberately applies physical force" to an official while being restrained during a fight with an opposing player. In both of these cases, the penalty and automatic suspension were to be imposed by the referee immediately after the game, and the player had no right of appeal! Conventional wisdom at the time was that due to the severity of the consequences there would never be another case of physical abuse against an official. That was until the night before Halloween 1983 when Tom Lysiak was playing for Chicago against Harford and he was ejected from a faceoff by linesman Ron Foyt. After the puck was dropped Lysiak skated through the faceoff circle and deliberately tripped Foyt from behind. The referee in the game, Dave Newell, suspended Lysiak for 20 games. All hell broke loose. Lysiak went to court and got a temporary injunction. Ultimately, the suspension stuck. Unfortunately, Ron Foyt was terminated at the end of the following season, in what many of us considered a case of retribution over the Lysiak affair. The rule evolved into what we now know as rule 40 to differentiate between varying degrees of physical abuse applied toward an official (There was wide gap between 20 and three games). Following the Lysiak court injunction, an appeal process was also added to provide the player with his "day in court." In this case, if Daniel Carcillo is suspended under rule 40 by the officials working the game Thursday night in NY, the League will hold a conference call with the NHLPA to review the Referees application of this rule, and will refrain from issuing public comment affirming the Referees application of Rule 40 until that call is complete. The player (or the officials) may request the Commissioner to review, subject to the provisions of this rule, the penalty imposed by the Referees (Must be filed in writing within 72 hours following notification of the penalty). A hearing will be conducted by the Commissioner on an expedited basis before the second game missed by the player due to the automatic suspension. For Category lll offenses only, the Commissioner may conduct the hearing by telephone. For Category I and ll offenses, the hearing shall be conducted in person. After any review, the Commissioner shall issue an order that: (i) sustaining the minimum suspension, or (ii) increasing the number of games within the category, or (iii) changing to a lower category, or (iv) changing to a lower category and increasing the number of games within this category, or (v) in the case of a Category lll suspension only, reducing the number of games of the suspension. Note rule 40.6 provides that in the event that the player has committed more than one offense under this rule, in addition to the penalties already imposed under this offense, his case shall be referred to the Commissioner of the League for consideration of supplementary disciplinary action. This would be Daniel Carcillos second violation of physical abuse of an official and while that would not have been taken into account by the officials last night, Commissioner Gary Bettman should already have this case moved to his desk. This column is already very lengthy Jason, so I will save player attacks that I personally endured for another time! ' ' '