JUPITER, Fla. • After the first surgery of his career a year ago and far too long at home watching far too many hours of other people playing baseball, veteran Jhonny Peralta found something equally unfamiliar when he returned to the Cardinals’ lineup.
He was hesitant to swing hard.
“By the time I was coming back, the swing — it doesn’t feel right,” Peralta said this past weekend. “It was the hand. When I swung really hard and missed it hurt. I was kind of scared to swing. My body was. And when that’s in your mind you can’t take that into the game.