BALTIMORE - Orioles third baseman Manny Machado began serving a five-game suspension Monday, nearly three weeks after Major Leag

BALTIMORE - Orioles third baseman Manny Machado began serving a five-game suspension Monday, nearly three weeks after Major League Baseball initially levied the sentence and five days after his appeal hearing. Dmitry Orlov Jersey . Machado was suspended and fined on June 10 for intentionally throwing his bat on the field during an at-bat in Baltimores game against Oakland on June 8. Machado immediately appealed the suspension, and spoke for about an hour Wednesday in an appeal hearing in Baltimore with MLB official Joe Garagiola Jr. The initial decision was upheld, meaning Machado will miss the Orioles four-game series against visiting Texas that began Monday, along with Friday nights game in Boston. "When we went in for an appeal I thought we had a good case, we had a great case," Machado said Monday afternoon. "We said what we had to say. It didnt come out how we wanted it to, but going into the appeal you know its going to be 50-50. Its something you cant control. I think we did the right thing, its a flip of the coin and we came up short. ... So now were just going to have to deal with the consequences." So will the Orioles, who will be forced to play with a 24-man roster. Chris Davis, who usually plays first base, was at third base on Monday night. "Thats the worst part about it. Were down a man," Machado said. "Obviously I dont want to put my team in that situation, especially five tough games." Machado tossed his bat in the direction of third base during a plate appearance in which Oakland reliever Fernando Abad threw successive high-and-tight pitches. After the bat went soaring, both benches emptied. Machado and Abad were ejected. Abad was fined but not suspended. "I didnt throw the bat at the pitcher. I didnt harm anybody. And Im going to get five games," Machado said. "I didnt charge the mound. I didnt get in a fight. ... This is an unfortunate event and Im going to have to deal with it." Orioles executive vice-president Dan Duquette said: "Obviously, we were disappointed. We were hoping the suspension would be reduced, and we thought there were good reasons it should have been reduced." In the opener of that series against the Athletics on June 6, Machado yelled in the face of Oaklands Josh Donaldson after the third baseman tagged him on the chest and caused him to lose his balance. Both benches emptied, but there were no ejections. "It sounded like they were giving him four games for the bat and they were also giving him an additional game for the Friday night," Duquette said. "I hadnt heard of a case where they went back and retroactively apply a suspension. ... The umpires didnt recommend any discipline; Manny stayed in the game. So that was kind of puzzling." Machado, 21, said he learned a lesson from the experience. "Dont do it again," he said. "You dont want to be in this situation. No one wants to be in it. Well just go from here and try to put this behind me and just go on playing baseball." Orioles manager Buck Showalter hoped the five-game sentence would be lowered after the appeal, but was ready to move on after the punishment remained in place. "It was surprising," Showalter said. "Were not going to dwell on it. We understand the rules and why things are in place for different reasons. There are repercussions for actions in baseball as there are in life in general. Hopefully, there will be some positive that comes out of it where Manny is concerned in the future and for all players, managers and coaches." Machado missed the first month of the 2014 season recovering from off-season knee surgery and got off to a slow start at the plate. Just before Mondays suspension, however, he had 10 hits over an eight-game span to raise his batting average 15 points to .239, and he also hit three home runs in his previous four starts. That made the timing of the suspension even tougher to take. "Definitely. It just (stinks)," he said. "I was starting to feel a little better at the plate and here they come with that bomb, five games. It was going to come. It was just about time to come. Unfortunately it came in the wrong spot, but hey, nothing you can do about it." Mike Gartner Capitals Jersey . - Playing a road game against a division rival raises the intensity for linebacker Clay Matthews. Dale Hunter Jersey .Y. - Phil Varone was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Rochester Americans edged the Toronto Marlies 3-2 on Sunday in American Hockey League action. http://www.capitalsteamstoreonline.com/authentic-jakub-vrana-capitals-jersey/ . 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.The Calgary Flames have won just once in four home games this season, but a visit from the Montreal Canadiens could improve on that record. The Flames try to avoid their first home loss to the Canadiens in over 12 years on Tuesday night as the clubs clash at the Saddledome. You can listen to all the action starting at 7pm ET/4pm PT on TSN Radio 690 Montreal. Calgary is 1-1-1 on a five-game homestand that ends on Friday versus Nashville, its first run of games at home since a season-opening loss to Vancouver on Oct. 8. The Flames got their first victory as the host this season on Thursday, blanking the Carolina Hurricanes, but fell in defeat to Washington 3-1 on Saturday. Dennis Wideman netted the lone goal and Karri Ramo stopped 27 shots in defeat as Calgary allowed a goal in each period. I dont think we gave ourselves our chance to win ... I dont think we played our best game, Flames head coach Bob Hartley said. That cant be said of Wideman, who leads all NHL defenseman with five goals. They have all come in his past six games and the blueliners goal on Saturday was his 300th career point. Forward Davis Jones, who has missed the last eight games with a lower-body injury, is expected to return to action tonight, but forward Mason Raymond is day-to-day with an unknown injury and not expected to play tonight. Hartley has aalternated starts this season between Ramo and Jonas Hiller, so the latter figures to get the call tonight. Jakub Vrana Capitals Jersey. Hiller is 2-1-2 with a 2.67 goals against average and .912 save percentage in five meetings with the Habs. Hiller will try to extend the Flames nine-game home unbeaten streak over the Canadiens, who have not won in Calgary since Jan. 5, 2002. Calgary is 8-0-0 with a tie since and that includes a victory outdoors on Feb. 20, 2011 at McMahon Stadium. The Habs should present a nice challenge for the Flames given their 7-2-0 start to the campaign. They picked up that second loss on Monday night in Edmonton, falling 3-0 and having a four-game winning streak halted. Carey Price was given the night off and his backup, Dustin Tokarski, made 16 saves for the Canadiens, who had a first-period goal waived off because it was ruled that Brendan Gallagher made contact with Oilers goaltender Ben Scrivens. If we didnt score, that means we werent good enough, said defenseman Andrei Markov. We have to work harder and be better tomorrow. Montreal allowed more than two goals for the first time in four games and will wrap a three-game road trip on Thursday in Vancouver. Price figures to start tonight and is 2-4-0 with a 3.04 GAA and .892 save percentage in six games versus the Flames, all but one of those starts. ' ' '