Monday, September 6, 2010

Atlanta Braves: Make Better Use of the Early Innings


Announcer Joe Simpson commented during the Atlanta Braves Monday afternoon tilt against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates that Braves' pitchers felt that they had to make perfect pitches when they were not given much run support. The score was tied at that time 1-1. On cue, Atlanta starter Tommy Hanson promptly gave up a two-run homer and his teammates go on to lose by that same score, 3-1. Granted, the loss didn't fall solely on pitching because the Braves had legitimate scoring opportunities in the 7th and 8th innings. The big two out hit continued to be absent in the clutch. For that matter, the big one out hit could not be had. It seems as though Atlanta begins an awful lot of games behind 1,2, or 3 runs after the first couple of innings. As today's performance showed, they cannot continue to live at the plate from the 7th inning on and hope to survive night in and night out. This time of year, the nights can run out on you in a hurry. It's a pennant race boys, play all nine innings.

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