Are you kidding me?

Off days are hard.  I want to watch baseball.  Even though it’s good for our guys to have the rest and refresh themselves and get ready for their next series especially an injury like Albert’s where it’s definitely good for him to rest up, I still dislike off days.  So instead I’m going to revisit a subject that was again brought to my attention from an article posted on stlcardinals.com

I recently wrote a post about the ridiculousness that has become of our closing situation.  At that time Ryan Franklin had blown 4 of 5 save opportunities and the Cardinals were finally beginning to look elsewhere for save opportunities.  Clearly I’m not alone in this matter as you can see from other blogs around here.

So even though Franklin was removed as the official closer, he somehow managed to squirm his way into a game against the Reds.  The Cardinals had been leading when suddenly the bullpen began a meltdown.  One guy gets plunked, another walked and the next thing you know, the Reds are right back in the thick of things.  Then Franklin comes in to give up the go-ahead and eventual game winning runs.  While he didn’t do it in the 9th inning, this was the Franklin we have all come to know this year.  And while this game was certainly not all his fault, he was still the guy that gave up the winning runs.

I understand he is frustrated with his performance and with himself.  I would expect nothing less from a highly competitive player, which you have to be, to be in the Majors.  Yet, he doesn’t seem to understand why others are upset.  Yes, he has been good in the past, but that has no bearing on right now.  Stan Musial was the greatest Cardinal of them all, but if he played right now, he would not be good!  And I would not think it was a great idea to stick him in the lineup!  There comes a time to know when it’s time to hang it up or to know it’s time to change roles.  I happen to thank Franklin could be better in another role, that is not such a high pressure situation.  Look no further than Minnesota closer Joe Nathan.  Nathan was not pitching up to his own standards in that role and asked to be removed until he gained his form back.  I can respect that.  Franklin thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to continue to pitch with the game on the line while he “figures it all out.”  What if that takes 20 games?  We already could easily have 5 more wins.

And these were his latest comments.

“If you could go back in the video room and look at all the pitches that
I’ve made, I made a lot of good pitches,  It’s just that one
pitch here, one pitch there that’s getting me, that’s finding grass.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.  This was like when he said, “Don’t boo me over 1 bad game,” when in fact it had been 4 bad games.  Now it’s just “one bad pitch.”  Well, guess what?  When you’re pitching with the game on the line or runners on base, one bad pitch is all it takes.  Nobody cares about the 20 good pitches you made when that one bad pitch ends the game because the other team just hit a walkoff home run off of you.

Until he gets his act together, I don’t want to see him anywhere near a pitcher’s mound in the 9th inning.  Boggs has been doing great and overall so has the bullpen.  There certainly have been glitches here and there, but I’m happy with the performance overall from the other guys.  Maybe we can trade Franklin for some bats or something.

Hating the off day,
Tiffany