ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Cal Eldred could be close to a rehab assignment after facing hitters Friday for the first time since being sidelined in early April with a viral inflammation of his heart lining.

"I don't think he's that far behind," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "He probably needs to do what we did today at least another time, maybe a couple more times.

"He threw the ball really good today, so maybe he won't need a whole lot."

Eldred threw 24 pitches to teammates Roger Cedeno, So Taguchi and Scott Seabol, who all seemed impressed.

"He looked good to me," Cedeno said. "Better than good. I think he's ready."

Manager Tony La Russa thinks Eldred, 37, has a chance to return in the first half of the season because he's not rehabbing from an injury while on the 15-day disabled list.

"Cal wasn't hurt, it was a virus," La Russa said. "It's purely a matter of conditioning. I'd be surprised if Cal isn't back some time in the first half."

Friday's outing was the third time for Eldred throwing off a mound since a bout with myopericarditis landed him in the hospital for a few days. He has been throwing for a couple weeks, and is scheduled to throw again Sunday if there are no repercussions from this outing.

Eldred, who has pitched two scoreless innings in two outings, had no complaints about his throw aside from a general feeling that he had to struggle a bit to control his pitches.

"You keep the ball down, you're doing what you need to do, but you want to make it feel easier," Eldred said. "You evaluate it and I can be sharper.

"Maybe the control is a little better, then the pitches do exactly what you want."

He valued the positive feedback from the hitters he faced.

"These guys are guys that have to pay attention, and they're not going to lie to you," he said.