First Goal Wins?

A couple of weeks ago, there were rumors that MLS brass was freaking out over all the ties that were happening as a result of the refs give-em-a-chance-to-even-the-score attitude. Subsequently, the refs have been much tighter in calling games when one team is winning. The result has been a huge increase in the number of shutouts (15 so far in August vs. 12 for all of July. The number of ties is also down so far this month.