Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The Atlanta Braves lost on Friday night and as is usually the case, a lot of Braves fans easily find the negative in such a situation. Obviously there are negatives to see in any loss but Braves fans are masterful at it. They would much rather look at the gigantic magic number of six and worry that the Braves are in a tailspin instead of focusing on the fact that yet another young starting pitcher had a dominant debut for their team. David Hale posted five innings of great baseball and left without giving up a run but striking out 9 in his debut.
Why do we have to focus on the fact that Fredi Gonzalez should have left him in for longer instead of the record level debut of another great young starter? Has it ever occurred to these Braves fans that Gonzalez might just have a reason to limit the young man’s innings in his debut? Oh I know that never crossed the minds of these fans but let us examine the possibilities for a moment just for fun.
Hale has maxed out last season at 145 innings pitched in the minor leagues. This season he doesn’t have that many innings. Maybe, just maybe Fredi G. wants to have a chance to use this good young pitcher in some aspect along the rest of the season and possibly even in the playoffs? It is possible that he wants to save those innings for that reason isn’t it? If that were true, isn’t it more important to prepare for the playoffs than to ensure a defeat of the San Diego Padres?
Nothing against them but beating the Padres isn’t that big of a deal right now. Other things like seeing what Scott Downs does with a broken finger on his glove hand matter. See, maybe we should give the Braves manager the benefit of the doubt as if his team has the best record in all of the National League or something. Oh wait, they do don’t they?
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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