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| Ryan Franklin blew a 9th inning for the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday, allowing 3 runs in the 6-5 loss to the Florida Marlins. - Photo courtesy of ESPN.com |
He's gotten much of his work done in the early innings of spring games, working on his assortment of pitches in order to get himself ready for the season.
On Saturday afternoon, Franklin got a save opportunity as opening day lurks less than a week away.
And Franklin blew the save.
Squandering 6 solid innings from ace Chris Carpenter and a pair of home runs by slugger Albert Pujols, Franklin allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning as the Cardinals lost to the Florida Marlins 6-5.
While blowing just 1 save is not an immediate cause for concern, converting the save opportunity certainly would've provided the organization with some confidence that the back-end of the bullpen is shored up with Franklin in the lead.
Franklin is coming off a season that saw him convert 27 of 29 save opportunities in 2010.
Manager Tony La Russa is depending on Franklin to have similar success this season. He also needs Franklin to be the leader of a bullpen that looks to be very young.
While Franklin blowing the save dominates the headline, Albert Pujols looks to be ready for the season.
Pujols launched a pair of parabolas over the fence on Saturday, knocking in 3 runs in the process.
Meanwhile, Skip Schumaker continued his solid spring, adding two hits of his own.
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