JUPITER, Fla. • The second time righthanded starter Adam Wainwright has faced hitters this spring was an occasion for a noteworthy first of Camp Cardinals: the first rally squirrel mention of the new year.

Midway through Wainwright's second inning of simulated work, teammate Kyle Lohse, a new arrival, borrowed a batting helmet from Mark Hamilton and stepped in to the batter's box. Wainwright took note only of where the batter was standing, not who was the batter. He fired a pitch. It strayed up. Lohse lifted off the helmet to reveal his identity and ask if the pitch was located on purpose.

"No pitch. No pitch," pitching coach Derek Lilliquist announced to Wainwright, reminding him that the throw didn't count against his 40-pitch target. "Squirrel ran across the plate."

A teammate chimed in: "So, it was a strike then?"

Wainwright continued his steady march toward this weekend's official start of spring training with a two-inning round against teammates this morning at the team's facility in Jupiter. The first video of Wainwright throwing this spring accompanies this article.

The righthander, who had Tommy John surgery 12 months ago and missed the entire 2011 season, is on target to start spring on a normal throwing schedule, Lilliquist affirmed this morning. Wainwright threw 40 pitches to hitters this morning, slicing the workout into two 20-pitch chunks in order to simulate innings. It is the "Live BP" drill that is usually set for the second week of spring training. Wainwright has been working a week ahead this season to be allow for any time he might need to rest or recover and still be ready for opening day. Lilliquist said this weekend Wainwright will revert to a normal schedule, returning to normal bullpen throws and then facing hitters again in about 10 days.

"Command-wise, I've been much better than I was today," Wainwright said. "That will continue to get better, I think. I've been pleased with where that's been. It will continue to get better and better as I throw. Hopefully, I'll get more and more comfortable on the mound as I go out there.

"Arm strength-wise, I feel great," he concluded. "I spun the ball well."

Wainwright mixed in all of his pitches Thursday morning. He worked a lot on his cut fastball, especially as the command of the pitch betrayed him. He had good success with his changeup, and his curveball twice got the same reaction from a teammate: "Good morning!"

In his second "inning" of work, his command evaporated. That's not unusual as pitchers take a break between their "innings" and don't have the stamina yet for what is also called "up-downs" because the pitcher sits down between "innings."

"Toward the end there I started getting the ball up a little bit on them," Wainwright said. "Part of that is I was throwing stronger. I still have to work on a comfort level there. Part of it was once you start facing hitters in a game you're going to have to make adjustments to your mechanics to compensate for that."

Thursday was the first time that new manager Mike Matheny had seen Wainwright pitch since the righthander's surgery.

Matheny arrived Wednesday afternoon, and on Thursday he donned the uniform pants and observed one of the final informal workouts before spring training begins officially for the Cardinals this weekend. He watched all of Wainwright's throw, talking both with the catchers and Lilliquist as Wainwright's pitch count grew.

"I was impressed with how smooth and fluid he was," Matheny said. "You just never know when a guy comes back from surgery if there's any hesitation. That's a great testimony to he and what the training staff has been able to do. He just looked very, very smooth.

"He had jump, life on his fastball. He had movement when he was trying to."

Wainwright faced a cross-section of hitters that included catcher Yadier Molina. The goal in the "Live BP" situations is to get a balance of hitters - two from the right, two from the left - and alternate. Wainwright faced righties Molina, Tyler Greene, and Tony Cruz. He also faced lefties Hamilton, Zack Cox and - um - Lohse, sort of.

"I really don't feel like I've missed a year," Wainwright said. "It feels like I'm stepping back into something that is comfortable. It feels natural."