By JOHN LOTT TruNorth Baseball D own on the SkyDome floor on this Friday, a flock of farm boys enjoy their big-league baptism.
Snow flurries fill the outdoor air, but inside, spring training has come to Toronto.
Inside, on the synthetic, slightly spongy green carpet, in their dark blues and bright reds, the Blue Jays and Cardinals stretch and swing in preparation for a two-game exhibition series. Some of the young players stare up at the steel lattice on the ceiling and the moving pictures on the JumboTron and try to forget about the certainty of Knoxville and Syracuse, where they will play this season. They are here to experience their own startling moment, to focus the dream, to stay in the big hotel and dress in the opulent clubhouse where world champions once trod and sit on a dugout bench that is cushioned instead of splintered. They are here for inspiration, because they are the chosen ones, the players in whom the organization believes. They are prospects, and over the next two days, they will all get to play in the big leagues and they will never forget it, even if they never come back.