If this was a parting gift, it was appropriate and nicely packaged.
If it was intended as a last stand, it was forceful enough and to the point.
Whatever the undercurrent of Jeff Suppan's appearance at Busch Stadium on Saturday night, his outing more accurately explained why the Cardinals reclaimed him as a released player eight starts ago rather than why they would place him on pitcher's death row.
Realistically, Suppan ran out of guarantees as he walked from the mound after 74 pitches and 5 1⁄3 scoreless innings in what ended as an 11-1 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Events beyond his control earlier Saturday - specifically the club's trade for Cleveland Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook - cloud his immediate future. At least he has Saturday night.
"He just pitched," manager Tony La Russa said after his team returned to 12 games over .500 (58-46) while winning for the 10th time in its last 11 home starts.
And for the first time since last Sept. 9, Suppan earned a win, raising his record to 1-4 with a 4.14 ERA since the Cards acquired him as a Milwaukee castoff.
After often receiving indifferent defense and spotty offensive support in his seven previous starts for the Cardinals, Suppan (1-6) struck out five without a walk and never faced a serious threat.
"From the beginning I've worked hard on what I needed to improve on. Tonight, I was able to execute pitches. I was able to focus on one pitch at a time," Suppan said. "When you're struggling to make location, you try to make things happen. Tonight, I felt more free with what pitch I'm throwing and where I'm throwing it."
The Cardinals scored in six innings for the first time this season, oddly enough after trading right fielder Ryan Ludwick to the San Diego Padres in a three-team deal that landed them Westbrook.
They also parlayed two leadoff walks into runs, scored on a sacrifice fly and stole their way into scoring position while enjoying 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position. (The Pirates finished 0 for six in such situations, scoring only on pinch hitter Jeff Clement's eighth-inning home run.)
Breaking a four-for-30 funk, first baseman Albert Pujols cracked his 24th home run of the season and 390th of his career among three hits.
Center fielder Colby Rasmus delivered his first home run since June 27, a two-run shot that jacked the lead to 6-0 in the seventh inning. The Cardinals then piled on for five eighth-inning runs to distort the outcome.
"There's a lot of little things done well, then we had a big crooked number. We did a good job," La Russa said. "We did a lot of good things. It was a lot closer game. At the end, the game gets away and it's misleading."
Westbrook becomes the Cardinals' fourth entrenched starter. Kyle Lohse threw his second of three minor-league rehab outings Saturday. Suppan's next start would fall on Thursday, but that is a scheduled off day. A fifth starter is next scheduled for Aug. 10, which falls exactly five days after Lohse's next outing.
"I know we've got an extra pitcher. We've got days off. We've got things working there. I just can't answer," La Russa said when pressed about the approaching decision.
"That is definitely a reality," Suppan said regarding the looming overcrowded conditions. "But my job is to be ready to pitch when they ask me to pitch."
Unable to command much of anything when he returned to St. Louis, Suppan mixed an effective fastball with his best assortment of off-speed pitches to date.
"I thought we were a bit jumpy," Pirates manager John Russell observed. "We're a young team. He's a veteran pitcher. He saw that."
La Russa removed Suppan with a 3-0 lead, one out and a runner on base in Saturday's fifth inning. Lefthander Dennys Reyes finished the inning, followed by a scoreless seventh inning from Kyle McClellan and a slightly blemished eighth from Mitchell Boggs, who allowed a solo blast to pinch hitter Clement. The Cardinals improved to 3-5 in Suppan's starts.
The Cardinals' six runs through seven innings represented their biggest breakout behind Suppan; they had been held to two runs or fewer in six of his previous seven starts.
"When he showed up, he had no guarantees. He had an opportunity. He has his first win, but I think he's given us a chance to win in a whole bunch of games," La Russa said.
"I gave everything I could give. I felt many games I kept the team in the game," said Suppan, the 2006 NLCS MVP during his first tour with the Redbirds. "All I can do is go out and pitch. ... I've given my best every time I've gone out there."
The Cardinals finished with 15 hits. Rasmus scored three runs and drove in three while reaching base three times. Admittedly tight for much of the last month, he backed up his earlier talk of playing with less inhibition now that the outfield numbers game had clarified.
"I don't need to get upset over things I can't control," Rasmus said. "There are a lot of eyeballs on you out there, especially in center field. Sometimes I thought by acting like I was mad about it, that was the way to be and show I really care. But obviously that wasn't what people were seeing. People were thinking I was down and not caring. It had the reverse effect of what was happening. Now I just try to make the game fun for myself and not think about throwing the ball a certain way or hit the ball a certain way. I just want to play the game like I have been and have fun."
La Russa said: "You apply the same formula for him as everybody. Nobody gets guaranteed playing time. But he has a lot of talent and a lot of weapons he can use and today you saw them.
"There's going to be innings available for outfielders. It would be really good for us if he played well enough to earn a lot of playing time."
Somewhere, the starting pitcher could relate.
