JUPITER, Fla. — If the Cardinals wanted to bundle all of the ways to strum Kyle McClellan’s nerves in his “debut” as a starting pitcher, they couldn’t have been more successful than Friday’s live batting practice session.

McClellan, making the switch from bullpen to rotation, was throwing in front of pitching coach Dave Duncan, with an owner and front-office execs looking on, at catcher Yadier Molina, and — the coup de grace — to hitter Cody Haerther.

“It didn’t help that the first guy I faced was my best friend,” the righthander said. “I was throwing to Yadi, too. Everything was just there, and I probably got going too much. Next time I’ll be more used to all of it.”

McClellan was the last of the pitchers to throw live batting practice Friday, and he and Braden Looper were the last of the starters to make their first appearance against hitters. That is not the only thing they share. Separated by an entire major league career — one nearing its start; the other winding into its second phase — Looper did last year what McClellan is trying to do this year, switching from the bullpen to the starting rotation.

They both have similar things to say about the change.

And both spent time Friday working on a change of pace.

McClellan, a St. Louis native, brings four pitches to the mound, and that’s four of the big reasons why Duncan wanted McClellan to make the move to starting. But to excel as a starter, he knows he has to improve his changeup. Molina and he spoke for awhile about the pitch after his throw, with the catcher telling him it’s good enough now to be a show pitch — or something he uses in concert with his other stuff just to keep hitters honest. Later, back in the clubhouse, McClellan had a protracted conversation with Mike Matheny about how to implement the pitch as he develops it.

Looper, a sage veteran of one full season of starting, is also trying to mix in a pitch that is a change-of-pace from his slider.

“My fourth pitch,” he said. “The other slider or slurve, slop, whatever it is.”

When Looper made the switch from bullpen to starter, he knew he would have to expand his confidence in his pitches. As a reliever, he was sinker-slider (cutter) to righthanders and sinker-split to lefties. It’s a recipe that worked because he was needed only for the eighth or ninth innings. As a starter, he needed to do more with those pitches, more often.

He wants to fine-tune a pitch that is a vastly different speed than the others, one that acts like his tight slider, but is a Jetta to its Mustang.

“That has it’s place,” he said. “First pitch breaking ball is something I can throw. It’s how you use it. … It’s good to have something different, something a little like the cutter or slider, but it has a change of speed. It felt good today.”

McClellan has a similar handful of pitches. He excelled as a reliever last year in the minors using his sinker, a cut fastball (that cutter-tight slider pitch Looper mentioned), a curve and the less-used change. As important as the quality of his four pitches is to his move to a rotation (most likely Triple-A’s), the stamina of his elbow could be the deciding factor.

McClellan is coming off Tommy John surgery and he was originally moved to the bullpen to preserve his elbow. Starting was viewed as too taxing.

“I’m at 100 percent, and (the elbow) isn’t even a thought,” he said. “There are two ways to look at it. It’s going to more innings and more innings at a time, but I won’t be throwing as many days. Yeah, I think about it. Is it going to be better for me to throw every fifth day and get that rest than throwing every other day?”

That’s what the Cardinals intend to find out.

“It’s a great situation for him. If he does well, great. If he doesn’t, then he can back to the bullpen, where he dominated,” Haerther said. And about him being the first batter his buddy faced? “I did the math and rushed over so I could be in there first and face him twice.”

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The quote of the spring, so far, goes to one clubhouse philosopher and his malaprop:

“The limit is the sky.”

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Looking for ways to get as many as five of the competing outfielders into the game at one time early in March, manager Tony La Russa said he’s asking around to see if any of the outfielders can play first base. (There also may be one first baseman who is looking to get a few reps in the outfield, in Josh Phelps.) La Russa will use the DH when available — most likely Juan Gonzalez – but also wants to squeeze extra at-bats for the seven or so other outfielders vying for a big-league roster spot and a starting job. 

It’s a pretty thin crop that has experience at first and the outfield. Chris Duncan has done both, coming up through the minors as a first baseman. Joe Mather, likewise, though he shifted around because of the obvious roadblock ahead of him. Here  are the career major-league games and games at first base for the relevant outfielders:

• Juan Gonzalez … 1,312/0

• Brian Barton … 0/0

• Colby Rasmus … 0/0

• Skip Schumaker … 143/0

• Rick Ankiel … 102/0

• Chris Duncan … 197/24

• Ryan Ludwick … 192/0

• Joe Mather … 0/0

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During coach-pitch batting practice this morning, Duncan took three consecutive pitches over the right field fence. … Righthander Mike Parisi threw a curve that caused Albert Pujols to buckle — but he didn’t swing. … Adam Wainwright was strong his second throw to batters. But that is no longer news.

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Brendan Ryan, who is coo-coo for Kobe and the Lakers, is coordinating a second season of NBA 2K8 on his XBOX 360. He’s already picked his starting five to take on the computer. The others are: Mather, Rasmus, Mark Worrell and Jarrett Hoffpauir. Instead of being stuck with the Phoenix Suns like last season, Ryan plans to draft a team, hand out controllers and take down the game.

“It gets intense,” Ryan said. “Last year (at their apartment in Memphis), we had people watching the game, staying to watch the game. That’s when you know you’ve got something special, something magical.”

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Ryan is not one to be handing out advice about big-league etiquette nor should he be playing Webster by saying what is and is not weird.

Yesterday he explained why he bites his left shoulder while he’s at the plate. Well, he didn’t really explain it as show us what the heck he was talking about. Sure enough, as he stands in the box and looks at the hitter, right after he reminds himself never to swing at a 3-0 pitch — Ever. Again. — he pecks at his left shoulder. It’s not one bite, but a series of bites. More nibbles than chomps. But bites nonetheless.

“It’s not weird,” he said. “Everybody else should be doing it.”

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One day a Lafayette High grad is making arbitration records and scoring a $10-million win in baseball’s lottery, the next a Lafayette High grad is winning compliments from the Cardinals’ skipper. St. Louisan David Freese, a third baseman, is in his first major-league spring training, and La Russa tossed a few verbal bouquets his way Friday.

“Good looking size, good arm, plays the position, looks like he could be a complete player,” the manager said. “The ball comes off his bat well. He’s got major-league skills.”

Freese was acquired from San Diego, straight up, for Jim Edmonds. Asked if he’s gotten any ribbing for being the player in that kind of trade, one that sends a clubhouse denizen, a signature star, elsewhere.

“To be honest, I was sad to see him go,” Freese said. “Even though it gave me a chance to be a Cardinal, I was still a Cardinal fan and he was such a big part of what the team did. Yeah, it’s tough to see him go.” 

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*** Swag Zone ***

Got a copy of The Sporting News’s baseball preview — the St. Louis-area edition, with “St. Louis ace” Adam Wainwright on the cover — and here is what a scout told P-D scribe Joe Strauss about that cover boy:

He may turn out to be the Cardinals’ most important acquisition, of the decade, and that includes Chris Carpenter. … (San Diego’s) Jake Peavy may have been the only other better NL starter down the stretch for me.

Told the story at the Baseball Writers’ dinner, but it’s worth repeating. The joke in baseball circles is that when the Atlanta Braves talk trade and start talking pitching, get up and walk out of the room. And really, it’s not a joke. The Cardinals landed Wainwright because they wanted to talk pitching with the Braves and wouldn’t leave the room. The Cardinals landed Wainwright right around the time that Dave Stewart was telling him had the physical stuff of an ace, but not the mental stuff.

Cardinals got him just as he did.

The TSN preview mag is on newsstands now; the NL Central previews are done with painstaking detail and needle-point wit by Strauss.

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Picked up those first couple packs of 2008 Topps. Not really swag, because man were they pricey. What happen to the quarter packs — with gum? Asked MLB.com’s Matthew Leach to help me open them. Good start to the year: Two Mickey Mantle cards — one done in the style of a modern card; the other a reprint — a Cardinals Preston Wilson card, a Ross Detwiler card (for you Missouri State fans and St. Louis prep baseball aficionados out there), and, the real score of the pack, a GOP Rudy Guiliani card.

Would that be a rookie card?

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