NEW YORK -- By the time David Wright made the short walk from the Mets' dugout to the on-deck circle on Friday, Citi Field was abuzz. As fans adulated him, Wright looped his bat in a series of arcs, first with his right hand, then with his left. He took two practice cuts, then squatted for a moment, replicating the warmup routine that had once seemed just that -- routine.
"He looked like himself, really," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "His stance, the whole thing."
Over the two years, four months and one day Wright spent away from the Majors, the image of that routine faded, perhaps, in the minds of many.