ST. LOUIS – It wasn’t enough that Jeff Suppan utterly dominated the Mets on the mound last night. He also outscored them by himself. Oh, and he gave most of the Cardinals’ bullpen a night off during a rigorous span of five games in five days.
Suppan allowed three hits and one walk over eight innings in a 5-0 Cards’ victory in Game 3 of the NLCS, and he smashed a solo homer leading off the second off Steve Trachsel. After outpitching Roger Clemens in Game 7 of the 2004 NLCS, Suppan now has a bookend to that clutch accomplishment.
“I think [a] tie for first, that one and this one,” said manager Tony La Russa, who called last night’s performance “a throwing clinic.”
Suppan lined a low, 87-mph, 0-2 pitch, smashing it off the top of the fence in left field and into the visiting bullpen. The ball just beat leaping Endy Chavez, who was a bit too late. It electrified the sellout crowd of 47,053 even more than the Cards’ two-run first did.
“I swung, it ran into my bat,” said Suppan, who put his head down while running. “I kind of was looking for someone to let me know it was a home run.
“I still wasn’t sure when I got to second.”
Remarkably, the 31-year-old owned one career homer before last night – against Trachsel on Sept. 10, 2005. Asked if he owned Trachsel, Suppan said, “Certainly not . . . I don’t know why that is.”
Once before had he earned a victory in a game this late in the playoffs, but he was magnificent. From the time the third inning ended until Shawn Green walked leading off the eighth, the Redbirds righty didn’t even pitch from the stretch.
“It’s just the moment,” La Russa said. “The significance of the game makes it more special that he could take not just his stuff, but his concentration . . . he was so focused and kept making great pitches.”
He recorded 10 groundouts behind a sterling St. Louis defense and allowed one extra-base hit (Jose Reyes’ triple with two outs in the third). Suppan recovered to whiff Paul Lo Duca and allowed one more hit to the final 16 he faced. Even then, Jose Valentin was erased by right fielder Preston Wilson in the fifth trying to stretch a single into a double.
Suppan praised the defense and said the early lead helped considerably.
“They came out strong, and it was my job to kind of not screw it up,” Suppan said.
Fittingly, his night ended when he sawed off Michael Tucker on a groundout to first. Josh Kinney pitched the ninth.
“He just executed his pitches from the start,” Kinney said. “It was just an awesome job by Sup tonight. It was fun to watch.”
Mutt & Jeff
The Cardinals’ Jeff Suppan easily outdueled the Mets’ Steve Trachsel in a battle of mediocre arms last night.
Here’s a look at their lines:
IP H R BB SO ERA
Suppan 8.0 3 0 1 4 0.00
Trachsel 1.0 5 5 5 1 45.00
