JUPITER, Fla. — By the time the ball cleared the right-center fence the Cardinals’ fans, caught between cheering for a Cardinals All-Star hitter but against a Cardinals All-Star pitcher, had committed and roared with applause.
Taking his cue, Nolan Arenado raised his batting helmet to the crowd.
Behind him, Adam Wainwright stepped off the mound, bent down to pinch off some turf, and, like a golfer, made a flourish of tossing some grass blades into the breeze.
“Wind-aided,” he said later.
For the first time this spring, the entertainer could put on a show.
And for an audience.