Italy's secret weapon in World Baseball Classic? The 'staches
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TAICHUNG, Taiwan -- ¡°I mean, what am I going to say, no, when they ask me to shave and make my mustache like the good old days?¡± Team Italy manager Mike Piazza said. ¡°They wanted to see from '93, '94, '95. I was like, 'OK, I'll bring it back.'¡±
Italy battled for a wild, important first-game victory over Cuba in Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Thursday night. They had great pitching, clutch hitting, espresso in the dugout, timely defense and, maybe most importantly, mustaches.
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¡°Actually, I think it was Dominic Fletcher who got it first, right, and then Harv got it second,¡± Nicky Lopez said. ¡°And we all followed Harv (pitcher Matt Harvey).¡±
What matters more than maybe the number of superstars you have on your team or the depth of Major League talent on your roster in the WBC -- a tournament where guys are only together for a couple weeks -- is team chemistry. How quickly players can get along with one another. You can see it in the 2-0 Netherlands team and, after watching Italy¡¯s win and postgame presser, you see how something as silly as growing mustaches has bonded the group.
¡°Behind the scenes, you know, our team is close,¡± Lopez said after the victory on Thursday. ¡°We are hungry individuals who want to make a name for ourselves, but in the same breath we are playing for each other, and you could see that tonight. We are top-stepping it, pushing for one another.¡±
¡°We are playing for our families. We are playing for our country,¡± Harvey said. ¡°That runs in our blood and we are just super excited to be here.¡±
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Fletcher -- one of the heart-and-soul leaders of the team -- started the facial hair trend.
¡°Yeah, our general manager, Gianmarco, has been rocking a 'stache for years,¡± Fletcher said. ¡°So I kind of hopped on board. I think [I grew it] the first day we got here, and then slowly, one by one, guys jumped on and it just turned into a thing.¡±
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And of course, they had to get their manager, who¡¯s had some of the most famed hair/facial hair in baseball history, involved.
¡°They made me shape my goatee and make a mustache as well,¡± Piazza said. ¡°They asked me to do it. It feels a little different.¡±
¡°They are a great bunch of guys,¡± Piazza continued. ¡°As you can see, they have chemistry, they have fun, they have bonded extremely well. And that's important.¡±
You could see Team Italy¡¯s focus on togetherness months before the tournament: Players on the roster -- mostly Italian-American -- were invited on a trip to their ancestors' home country for a week. They trained with Italian-born ballplayers, ate pasta in Parma and drank wine in Piazza¡¯s villa.
¡°Now we have an understanding of who this team is,¡± Vinnie Pasquantino said at the time. ¡°Hopefully that helps us.¡±
Will the combination of Italy¡¯s togetherness and talent be enough to get them to the next round in Tokyo? Time will tell. They lost a tough matchup against Chinese Taipei, and still need to play two more games against some formidable teams here in Taiwan. But there is a certain power in friendship and in brotherhood.
And in mustaches. Maybe.