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. Joe Namath Jersey . According to the sportsbook BoDog, the Stampeders are 8/5 favourites to take home the Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium in Regina on November 24. Custom Los Angeles Rams Jerseys .B. -- Canadian pairs skaters Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford went from elated to frustrated in the span of a few minutes. http://www.officiallaramspro.com/Kurt-warner-rams-jersey/. Alvarez hit his first career home run, pitched six innings and hurt his right hamstring while running the bases in the Miami Marlins 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs. Jared Goff Jersey . - Pierre-Maxime Poudrier scored twice and added an assist, and Antoine Bibeau made 43 saves as the Val-dOr Foreur downed the Baie-Comeau Drakkar 6-3 on Sunday to force Game 7 in their Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final series. Torry Holt Jersey .com) - Patrik Elias registered the winner in the shootout as New Jersey nipped Toronto 2-1 at Prudential Center on Wednesday.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, At the end of Boston-Toronto game on Thursday night,m Torey Krug received a holding call in overtime. The call was made when he defending against Tyler Bozak. It appeared as though Bozak put his arm out to fight Krug off and in the process gave up having two hands on his stick (and a good scoring chance). It looked to me that Krug put his arm in front of Bozak and then proceeded to immediately body check him. Krug put his arm out only after Bozak had and it looked like a fight for positioning to me. Would you consider the call correct? Or is this more of a subjective call? This could have big playoff implications in the coming week considering Toronto scored on the power play! Thanks,Brendan --- Hello Sir, In the OT period of the Bruins-Leafs game, a penalty was called on Torey Krug for holding, it led to a win for the Leafs on the power play. Watching the replay, it looked as if Krug made a good defensive play, with really no question, am I mistaken? Also, the Bruins had a goal called back against the Red Wings the previous night for goalie interference (though no penalty was assessed), again, on the replay, while Charas skate was in the crease, there appeared to be zero contact. I am looking for clarification on these plays, please. I understand it is often a bang bang play and a split second decision, but that is what these guys are trained to do, do you see either, or both plays as being right from a refs perspective? Thanks Kerry,J.W. Bajuhn Brendan and J.W.: If Bruins coach Claude Julien had a full head of hair he would have good reason to pull it all out once Torey Krug was assessed a holding penalty in OT following a good defensive play to knock the puck off the stick of Tyler Bozak! Tyler Bozak did attempt to protect thhe puck on his cut toward the Bruins net by reaching out with his right hand to fend Torey Krug off.dddddddddddd Once the arm of Bozak was extended, Krug placed his left glove hand onto Bozaks arm but did not utilize a tug or grabbing motion that could result in a takedown hold. Bozak continued to lean hard with his body pressed into the Bruins defender with a power move toward the net which. The alteration of Tyler Bozaks body position exposed the puck and provided an angle for Torey Krug to execute a perfect stick check. It was nothing more than a timely "stick on puck" in an excellent defensive play by Krug and not deserving of a penalty call. Once the puck was knocked off the stick of Tyler Bozak the fall and crash into the net by both players was of no significance or consequence to this play. There were some unusual judgments late in this game that went both ways. Phil Kessel clipped Dougie Hamilton on the cheek with his stick that opened up a pretty good gash and went undetected. Not too long afterward a pretty soft holding call was assessed to Nikolai Kulemin on Milan Lucic with just over a minute remaining in regulation time. The holding penalty against Krug ended the game with two big points for the Leafs and the loss of a big point for the Bruins in their race for the Presidents Trophy. Two goals were recently disallowed in Tampa (vs. Montreal) and Detroit (vs. Boston) when the refs deemed goalkeeper interference had been committed even though replays demonstrated there was no contact prior to the puck entering the net. Until the League allows the referee to utilize video review to determine the accurate presence of illegal goalie interference and/or a "coachs challenge" can be made we will continue to see inaccurate rulings in the crease. In the here and now, I would recommend that attacking players make sure they dont have a "toe in the crease" as they move toward the playoffs. 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