JUPITER, Fla. -- If Spring Training were any indication, Todd Wellemeyer would be in for a rough campaign in 2009.

Luckily for the 30-year-old right-hander, the statistics compiled in March usually offer little-to-no indication for what will happen when games count against your record.

"I remember one year [in 1990], Bob Welch couldn't get anybody out in Spring Training and won the Cy Young with 27 wins that year," Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "What you want to do in Spring Training is you want to make sure the guy is going into the season physically ready to start the season and all of his pitches are sharp. And that's what you look at with Wellemeyer."

Duncan was speaking after Wellemeyer's worst outing of Spring Training, when he gave up seven runs on seven hits through five innings to put his ERA at 7.36 after five starts. The Cardinals suffered a 10-6 loss to the Orioles on Saturday.

Wellemeyer actually said he felt "very good," but during a windy Saturday afternoon at Roger Dean Stadium, he gave up several base hits with 0-2 counts and couldn't command his slider and curveball very well.

"I thought I gave up like three [hits on 0-2 counts], and that can't happen," said Wellemeyer. "Other than that, physically I felt good. I just made some mistakes. Some brain farts."

Said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa: "He says he felt good, but he just got killed [on] 0-2 [counts], and his location was a problem -- that happens sometimes."

It is only late March. But one question is whether Wellemeyer will feel "good" in August and September after a workman-like 2008.

A fourth-round Draft pick by the Cubs in 2000, Wellemeyer came up to the Majors as a starter, but control issues moved him down to the bullpen.

The Kentucky native was claimed off waivers by St. Louis in May 2007, and assumed the role as a starter once again for the second half of that season. Then, last year, he finally broke out, going 13-9 with a 3.71 ERA in 32 starts.

That season also saw Wellemeyer throw a career-high 191 2/3 innings. The previous season, he threw just 80 1/3 frames, and the only time he had cranked it up over 115 innings in a full season -- Minor and Major Leagues combined -- was when he started 27 games in Class A in 2001 and threw 147 innings.

But that didn't seem to play a factor for Wellemeyer in 2008 when he sported a 2.58 ERA in August and a 3.45 ERA in September.

This year, Duncan believes there's no reason to think he can't be as durable.

"He's a big, strong guy who pays a lot of attention to his physical conditioning," Duncan said. "He does his work in the training room, takes good care of himself, so there's no reason to believe he won't start 32, 34 games for us."

Wellemeyer has been tinkering with a curveball to add as his second breaking pitch, along with the slider, but Duncan said it's still not quite there. For now, though, he has no problems with Wellemeyer being a three-pitch guy -- considering he sports an above-average fastball and changeup.

After going through his first full season as a starter, 2009 will be a big year for Wellemeyer, who is a free agent after this season for the first time in his career.

But all he's thinking about is his last Spring Training start.

"Next Thursday [against the Marlins] is going to be big," Wellemeyer said. "I wish it was tomorrow. It's time to get everything I've been working on together and take it into that game."