Recognizing the Cyclones is hard enough, but this year’s crop is making it even harder.
Several members of the starting line-up, perhaps inspired by this reporter’s mustache (though, more likely, inspired by a desire to turn around the team’s early season struggles), stopped shaving for a fortnight.
John Servidio explained the origin of the ’staches.
“After the Oneonta series [when the Cyclones were swept by the Tigers], we decided we needed a change, so a lot of us started growing mustaches,” the right fielder said.
It was certainly working; Servidio was 11-for-29 with five RBIs during his shave-free eight games.
Reliever Jimmy Johnson also refrained from razoring.
“We all wanted to try something new,” added Johnson, who gave up just two hits in his 4-2/3 innings with facial hair. “I called my girlfriend and said I’m growing a mustache, and she said, ‘No, you’re not!’ And I said, ‘But you’re not here.’
“I guess I’m keeping it until we go bad, and then that thing is gone as soon as we get in here [the clubhouse].”
The team was 5–4 during the shaving haitus, but that wasn’t good enough, Servidio said.
“I was doing OK, I guess, but the team wasn’t, so I shaved it off.”
The new strategy appeared to be working, too; during Monday night’s win in Staten Island, Servidio hit a monstrous solo homer.
It was certainly not a close shave, either!
