JUPITER, Fla. • Mike scoped like a microscope.
Knees in the grass, Cardinals pitcher Mike Leake meticulously inspected the lie of the ball, like an Augusta National rules official upon a dogleg gone wrong.
In the Cardinals’ bunt competition, a bunter earn points only if the bunted ball dribbles beyond the dirt semicircle in front of home plate and lands upon grass.
But even an askew grass blade, faintly touching the ball on the edge of the grass, counts.
Bunter Marco Gonzales awaited a ruling, one that could sway the score and, possibly, the course of this entire competition.