Exceptions to the Rule

Florida Marlins manager, Fredi Gonzales, benched star starting shortstop, Hanley Ramirez, after the 2nd inning when he failed to run hard after he accidentally kicked the ball into the outfield, two runs scored on the error. During his last at bat, Ramirez fouled a ball off his shin and was in quite a lot of pain. Now I'm not endorsing the lack of hustle some players give, but I am endorsing the fact that there should be exceptions. Hanley Ramirez is the highest paid player on the team, the star, the icon, no other Marlin even compares to him, and you do not bench him after 2 innings. He fouled a ball off his shin the half inning before he made the botch play, and if Gonzales was mad because 2 runs scored, well then I have news for him, even if Ramirez hustled to that ball those runs would have scored. Furthermore, and I can't stress this enough, he benched him after only 2 innings, not even a third of the game was completed. To make things worse, Gonzales admits that the replacement had a sprained ankle, which means he replaced his star player, after only 2 innings, with an injured backup. Where is the logic in this decision? What was Fredi Gonzales thinking? My guess was that he was trying to make a statement about a team lack of hustle and he used the star as his example, which is fine in some situations, but not this one. All Fredi Gonzales did was increase the chances of losing yesterday's game, which they did lose 5-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and anger his best player. Fredi Gonzales has got a pair for doing what he did, but he went way too far. Gonzales should have looked the other way and pulled him aside after the game. If you want to win games, you're going to need your best player on the field. You also want him content, not angered. A negatively effected Ramirez will not produce like a positively effected Ramirez. The sports industry has exceptions to the rules just like in every other aspect of society. Hanley Ramirez should have been an exception on May 17, 2010.