PHOENIX -- If he gets a free moment this afternoon, Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan just might check on the important numbers.

Victories? Losses? Hits? Walks? Strikeouts? Earned runs? Batting average allowed?

Forget those.

For another week and a half, Suppan can focus on the number of cheesesteaks and chicken wings sold at Soup's Grill, the restaurant he and his wife, Dana, opened recently in Woodland Hills, Calif.

The other numbers?

Well, they don't matter until the regular season starts. That's good for Suppan, who has allowed 21 hits in 12 2/3 innings this spring and will carry an 0-2 record and 11.37 earned run average into his penultimate exhibition start Sunday.

"I care what the numbers are, but I'm not looking at the numbers right now," Suppan said after giving up six hits in 4 2/3 innings against Anaheim earlier this week.

"You always want to go out there and pitch well. I don't want to go out there and give up a two-run home run, walks ... I don't want to do that. The objective is to get ready for the season.

"Obviously, when I go out there I want to throw donuts (scoreless innings) up there and do my thing, but that's not always the main objective in some games."

The final fortnight of spring training is a fascinating time for veteran players and their managers. While young players live and die with each spring training at-bat, it's different for the older guys.

After telling themselves for weeks that results are irrelevant, the fact that opening day is approaching makes it hard not to dwell on pure performance. Many veteran players get nervous when spring training goes well, because they don't want to "waste" good at-bats or solid innings in meaningless situations.

"For me, spring training is kind of broken up into two phases," manager Ned Yost said. "The first phase, (you) get yourself physically ready to play baseball.

"Now, we start to ramp up the mental side of it. You get yourself mentally ready to compete over the long haul. It's difficult to comprehend, but you have to be ready to play a 162-game season before the first game even starts. That's mental preparation. Be able to do whatever it takes to be ready."

If Suppan pitches a three-hit, complete game shutout in his first start of the regular season, his rocky outings in Arizona the past few weeks will be forgotten. The same goes for closer Eric Gagne and second baseman Rickie Weeks, who have scuffled in aspects of the exhibition games measured by stats.

Gagne, who was signed in the off-season to replace departed closer Francisco Cordero, has an 11.25 earned run average in four official spring outings. "Gagne is really close to being really good," Yost said.

Though he has had trouble controlling his off-speed pitches in his first injury-free spring in three years, Gagne doesn't seem overly concerned.

"I've done everything I want to do, physically," he said. "I'm where I want to be. I'm ready. I feel strong. I'm not worried about my body.

"I'm to the point where I need to get people out, start thinking counts, start thinking how to approach hitters instead of working on certain pitches. It's just a mental approach. Now, I have think about how I'm going to get the next guy out."

In the days leading to the season opener March 31 at Wrigley Field, Yost expects his players to "ramp up," "buckle down," "zone in," "focus" and (insert commonly used sports phrase here) and be ready to perform when the games count and spring stats are erased.