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The boy was 10. And everything he yearned for — and everything he feared — was in the balance.

Game 6 of the 1993 World Series. Bottom of the ninth. Phillies up, 6-5.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — When the wild pitches had been retrieved and the walks tallied, the Cardinals had utilized nine pitchers to get through eight innings of a loss Tuesday night to the Washington Nationals.

A five-run eighth inning against handful of minor-league pitchers brought over to the big-league camp for insurance had decided the 6-1 loss.

JUPITER, Fla. — With Alec Burleson set to take over primary starting duties at first base after the offseason deal that shipped Willson Contreras up to Boston, the Cardinals will use this spring to get looks at candidates who can be options to “spell� Burleson.

One candidate got a start Tuesday to make his case as an option behind the utility Silver Slugger.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The inning that right-hander Tink Hence is scheduled to throw Tuesday night in the Cardinals exhibition game is not some hint on his next role for the club, but it is a step in the direction of a decision.

Hence, 23, has some of the best pure stuff in camp, and the lithe, 6-foot-1, 195-pound pitcher generates both above average velocity and sinister movement that annually ranks him among the top prospects in system. Drafted in 2020, he stood out during a stretch when the organization was pitching-starved.

JUPITER, Fla. — Tucked into a corner of the University of Southern California’s campus, not too far from the student recreation center or the dorms of Webb Tower, is the school’s baseball field, and if students peered in one January day in 2018, they would have seen a three-time MVP taking routine ground balls at first base.

Right behind Albert Pujols stood young Blaze Jordan, glove ready and tongue tied.

JUPITER, Fla. — The widow sat near the window. She pressed two buttons on the enormous coffee roaster that looks like a locomotive, and both the machine — and the memories — came to life.

Soon after, with her wedding ring still on her left hand, she gripped her right hand on the roaster’s release handle, under the bean hopper — just like the image of her husband in the framed photo on display to her side.

JUPITER, Fla. — At the outset of the offseason, just as he made the first of what would be four significant trades that catapulted the Cardinals into a rebuild, president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom noted how the roster lacked a collection of lefty relievers.

“Heck,� he said. “You look at some of the pitchers on our club right now. We could probably use a couple of those guys at the moment pitching out of our big league bullpen.�

JUPITER, Fla. — Having gone through a spring training where he came up short of pushing his way onto the Cardinals’ opening day roster to being in spring training while his role is projected to be more solidified, right-hander Michael McGreevy sees this spring as no different from before.

He doesn’t want to change his approach, knowing “nothing is guaranteed.�

JUPITER, Fla. — A group of spunky back-benchers, brought over from the back fields to give the big league team some depth on Monday, mounted a wind-aided rally in the ninth inning to upend their neighbors.

Jeremy Rivas had the game's pivotal hit with a ground-rule double that got caught in a gust and evaded the Miami Marlins' center fielder. It would have won the game a few moments before a wild pitch lost it.

Hello from Jupiter (Florida, not the planet), where Cardinals camp is in full swing. Post-Dispatch baseball writer Daniel Guerrero coming to you from the press box at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals are set to take on the Marlins in their third Grapefruit League game of the spring. Let’s hear what you have.

(A couple of notes, with the flow of the game and a deadline to meet for tomorrow’s paper, there may be some start and stop to the chat. There will be a transcript of the chat below the text box.)

JUPITER, Fla. — Every autumn, long before the spring season sprouts, the El Toro High baseball program holds its Charger World Series. Coach Mike Gonzales of the Lake Forest, California, school names two seniors as game captains. And they serve as both the general managers and the managers — they have a draft of all the Chargers and then play a game with their teams.

“And Nathan was fortunate enough to draft the dark horse,� Gonzales said by phone.