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SAN FRANCISCO -- Bostons Ryan Dempster accepted his punishment without admitting any misdeed. The Canadian pitcher was suspended for five games and fined by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for intentionally hitting New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez with a pitch last weekend. While Dempster still maintains he was only trying to establish the inside part of the plate and wasnt trying to hit Rodriguez on purpose, he will not contest the punishment and began serving it Tuesday. "I thought about appealing," the Gibsons, B.C., native said before Boston played the Giants. "At the end of the day, I think Major League Baseball does a really good job of thinking through punishments before they hand them out. I thought it was in the best interest of us as a team to go ahead and serve my suspension." MLB senior vice-president Joe Garagiola Jr. announced the penalty two days after Dempster hit A-Rod in the second inning at Fenway Park. Yankees manager Joe Girardi was fined for arguing with plate umpire Brian ONora. Dempsters fine was $2,500 and Girardis was $5,000, people familiar with the discipline told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the amounts were not announced. Dempster was scheduled to pitch Saturday at the Los Angeles Dodgers but now could be pushed back to next Tuesdays homestand opener against Baltimore. He will throw a simulated game on Friday. Boston is off Thursday, and Jon Lester will be able to pitch on regular rest Saturday in Dempsters place. Jake Peavy is set to go Sunday on normal four days rest. "That has nothing to do with it," Dempster said. "I think it has to do with taking my suspension and put it past. Theres no point in carrying out an appeals process. We have other things to worry about and thats going out and winning a ballgame tonight against the San Francisco Giants. Ill take my punishment." Earlier Tuesday, Girardi insisted it would be "open season" on Rodriguez if MLB failed to suspend Dempster. Girardi had hoped for a suspension long enough to make Dempster miss a turn. "I think I made my feelings pretty clear then," Girardi said after the suspension was announced. Dempster threw one pitch behind A-Rods knees and two more inside during the second inning. Then his 3-0 pitch struck Rodriguezs left elbow pad and ricocheted off his back. "You dont throw at a guy four times," Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia said. "He violated every code in every way." Dempster said he will never stop pitching inside. "Thats a real important part of pitching to any hitter, especially a big power hitter," he said. Girardi sprinted onto the field, screaming at ONora for not ejecting the pitcher. Girardi was tossed as the benches and bullpens emptied, and Rodriguez homered off Dempster to spark a sixth-inning rally that lifted New York to a 9-6 win. "That baseball is a weapon. Its not a tennis ball. Or its not an Incrediball thats soft. Its a weapon, and it can do a lot of damage to someones life," Girardi said before a doubleheader against Toronto. "And thats why I was so upset about it. You can express your opinion and be upset with someone, but you just cant start throwing baseballs at people. I mean, its scary." Girardi said his profane rant at ONora probably was the angriest hes been on a ball field. Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games on Aug. 5 for violating baseballs drug and labour agreements but is playing while he appeals. Red Sox pitcher John Lackey criticized the rules last week for allowing A-Rod to play. Girardi said prior to the announcement that if Dempster wasnt punished, it would make Rodriguez "open season for people, and that cant happen. Its not fair. If a player is suspended for throwing at someone, theyre going to get their appeal. Are we just going to throw that out, too?" Asked later if the level of penalty would make it open season, he responded: "Thats my concern. Well find out. I sure hope not." "If you suspend a position player three games, he misses three games," Girardi added. "You can suspend a pitcher five games, even six games and he may not miss a start. The off days come into play." The Red Sox did not criticize the decision, saying their focus was on winning games and making it to the playoffs. "We fully respect what MLB has decided to do and hand down the suspension," manager John Farrell said. "Never has it been uttered that its been unjust. To Ryans credit, hes serving the suspension starting tonight." New York didnt retaliate Sunday. Girardi wouldnt say whether there is a need to respond when the teams next meet, at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 5. Girardi said "protecting your own" in baseball has gone on for "for a long time. And unfortunately youre part of those situations sometimes, but thats part of the game." The manager also discussed the matter with his 6-year-old son, Dante. "Part of pitching is pitching inside, thats all part of it," he recalled telling the boy. "But I dont ever want you to hit anyone on purpose." After Sundays game, Rodriguez declined to say whether Dempster should be suspended. "Im the wrong guy to be asking about suspensions. Holy mackerel," A-Rod said with a laugh. "Ive got an attorney I can recommend."Cheap Avalanche Jerseys . Tevez, who has had conflicts with coaches in the past, has not been called up since Sabella was named coach in 2011. Argentina boasts Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria. Colorado Avalanche Store . A forerunning sled crashed into the worker Thursday at the Sanki Sliding Center. The unidentified worker broke both legs and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. https://www.cheapavalanche.com/ . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. Custom Colorado Avalanche Jerseys . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. Colorado Avalanche Gear . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game.WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Scott Dixon was the man to beat at Watkins Glen International when the IndyCar Series began racing again at the historic road course just over a decade ago. He still is.Fastest in all three practices, Dixon topped the Fast Six on Saturday with a track-record-smashing time of 1 minute, 22.5259 seconds at 147.008 mph to win the pole for the Grand Prix at The Glen. It was Dixons second pole of the season and 25th of his career, tying him with Paul Tracy for 11th all time, as he eclipsed Ryan Briscoes track record by more than five seconds in a penalty-filled affair.It was hairy, man, Dixon said. There was definitely a lot of chaos during qualifying with people getting pulled back out of the group that they had transferred into.Will Power, second in points to Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud, will start second, followed by Sebastien Bourdais, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Max Chilton.Pagenaud failed to make the final six for the first time this season and will start seventh. He leads Power by 28 points with two races left in the season.A year ago, Dixon captured his fourth IndyCar championship in stunning fashion. He won the season finale at Sonoma to snatch the title from Juan Pablo Montoya, overcoming a daunting 47-point deficit. That hes really not in the hunt this time -- Dixon is sixth in the standings, 132 points behind Pagenaud -- isnt so much fun.We had to have a lot of things go our way at Sonoma last year. You dont often see it transpire like that, Dixon said. They [Pagenaud and Power] are a lot closer. Wills starting five spots ahead of Simon, and Wills been a lot quicker all weekend. Its definitely going to go down to the wire. For us, its going to feel real strange.Other things to know about IndyCar qualifying at Watkins Glen International:Penalties, penaltiesGraham Rahal, the winner last week at Texas, was sitting comfortably inside the top six in the first of three rounds of qualifying but was penalized for impeding Jack Hawksworths time and did not advance. He pleaded his case with IndyCar officials on pit road, to no avail.Im very disappointed with the ruling, said Rahal, who will start 20th. We obviously have a fast race car, but were going to have to put our heads down and try to come from behind. There is a lot of work to be done. We will give it all we can to try to come up with good strategy to help us make our way to the front.ddddddddddddRussian?Mikhail Aleshin?suffered a similar fate. Comfortably in the final six, he was penalized for impeding Montoya and had his two fastest laps taken away, too, giving Power the break he needed to advance.I did all I could in that situation. I knew he was behind me, Aleshin said. I moved to the right side and then they give me the penalty. Whats going on? They took [the] two fastest laps, which were identical. I think thats not very fair, is it?James Hinchcliffe also was a victim. He initially advanced but lost his fastest lap because he spun and affected the progress of Power during the first session, allowing Aleshin to go on to the next round.Red or blackTeams struggled to find the right balance with both the red and black tires on the newly paved surface at The Glen. The red compound is softer, grippier and usually faster, but on this day the harder compound in the blacks proved the better choice.Bourdais proved it with his top qualifying result of the season, but fellow Frenchman Pagenaud did not.I dont know what happened, Pagenaud said. Im trying to understand how we can go faster. We just missed it. It happens. Weve been struggling with speed. Its a new track and youve got to get used to it. Theres a very, very high commitment. Im pretty happy with where we are now. I think we can go racing.Friendly reminderPower starts alongside Dixon on the front row, with Pagenaud three rows back, and starts at Watkins Glen can be disastrous as drivers get aggressive trying to make passes when the green flag waves. Jeff Gordon won the pole here in 2003 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, was wrecked on the first turn of the race by Greg Biffle and finished 33rd.Dixon said hed remind Power about whats at stake.Ill definitely remind Will before the race that hes got a lot more to lose than I have, Dixon said with a smile. You know, I think you can see that Will has evolved a lot, I think, as a driver, especially this championship.It was funny -- we chatted at Road America about the runaway championship that Simon was having, and I was like, You wait, man, its going to flip. One of us will be in the chase again to try and hunt him down. ' ' '