Suppan Gets the Job Done

His hair was a mess. His gray T-shirt was soaked. He wore a pair of goggles, protecting his eyes from the streams of champagne and beer descending upon him.

And yet, in the middle of the visiting clubhouse, a woman walked right up to him and planted a kiss on his lips. And then, after the congratulatory kiss for her husband, Dana Suppan exhaled.

“I can breathe now,” she said.

So could the St. Louis Cardinals, thanks to a pitching performance as good as his wife or his team could possibly have hoped for. Jeff Suppan gave up two hits over seven innings, got two hits of his own and pitched the Cardinals into the National League championship series on Sunday, retiring the final 14 hitters he faced in a 6-2 win that sent the Dodgers home for the winter.

Local boy made good, at the expense of the local team: Suppan, who graduated from Encino Crespi, lives in West Hills and runs a San Fernando Valley restaurant called “Soup’s Grill,” pitched the game of his life before family and friends -- a loud minority among a crowd of 56,268, the largest in Dodger Stadium history.

“Come to Soup’s Grill, baby!” a teammate shouted as he ran past Suppan.

“This is probably the biggest and best outing of his career, something he’ll remember forever,” St. Louis pitcher Matt Morris said. “I’m proud of him.”

Suppan was visibly excited, although he apologized for not being able to put his feelings into words right away.

“I can’t describe it, to be honest with you,” he said.

In the early innings, Suppan did not appear long for the game. In the first inning, Jayson Werth hit a home run. In the second, Suppan walked two. In the third, after an out, walk and single, St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan rushed to the mound.

In the St. Louis bullpen, Cal Eldred warmed up. At that point, Suppan had needed 55 pitches -- 28 balls and 27 strikes -- to get seven outs.

“I didn’t think he was too excited at all,” Duncan said. “My only fear was that he was trying to be too perfect with his pitches. I tried to be aggressive and encourage him to throw strikes.”

Said Suppan: “I just settled down.”

That would be the understatement of the evening. After Duncan returned to the dugout, Adrian Beltre hit a sacrifice fly, tying the score 2-2. Shawn Green struck out, ending the third inning. Albert Pujols hit a three-run homer for the Cardinals in the fourth, and Suppan retired the Dodgers in order from there.

He needed 47 pitches -- 34 strikes and 13 balls -- to get 14 outs. He left after seven innings, earning the victory that enabled the Cardinals to set up their NLCS rotation as they please.

He’ll be in it, a sweet reward for a season in which he won a career-high 16 games and sweeter still after his misadventures last October.

The Boston Red Sox traded for him in a deadline deal a year ago July, but he started 10 games, won three and posted a 5.59 earned-run average. The Red Sox dropped him from their roster during the division series, and he did not appear in the American League championship series.

“I got up twice,” he said. “It was a learning opportunity.”

The Cardinals, his fourth team in three seasons, signed him as a free agent, giving him two years and $6 million to eat innings. He ate up the Dodgers on Sunday, assuring himself a second postseason start.

“It was a big performance for him,” Duncan said. “He hasn’t had an opportunity to do this before. He did it, and that’s in his background now.”