HOUSTON – For a week, he had been the heart and soul of an upstart Italian squad, brewing up post-homer espresso shots in the dugout, kissing his teammates on the cheeks, arranging a spontaneous after-hours dip in the hotel’s lazy river and passing out celebratory bottles of wine to team MVPs.
The only thing Team Italy captain Vinnie Pasquantino hadn’t done was hit.
But when he did, he became the World Baseball Classic’s Mr. March.
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Pasquantino ended his tournament 0-fer by powering Italy to a convincing 9-1 victory over Mexico Wednesday night at Daikin Park with the first three-homer game in Classic history.
“It was nice to get involved in the action from the other side,” he said. “It's nice to get kissed on my cheeks.”
It was an amazing display on the part of the Pasquatch, whose three dingers were all sent to the right-field corner. But the Royals’ first baseman was quick to say that it would be soon forgotten in the course of a tournament that was, as he put it, in its “regular season” phase of pool play.
What was more meaningful to Pasquantino was the Italians going 4-0. Especially given all the legwork he had done to help arrange this roster of mostly American-Italian players.
“I'm like weirdly emotional tonight, to the point where I'm thinking about crying,” said Pasquantino, “which is funny for a tournament in March.”
Pasquantino has embraced this tourney as so much more than just March baseball. He has added deep meaning to the experience by forging a real bond in the Italy clubhouse and dugout, and he has been front and center in celebrating this club’s many accomplishments in a short time together.
“He's made us all feel comfortable,” said shortstop Sam Antonacci, “and he's the reason that we're so tight.”
After each win, Pasquantino has been presenting his picks for batter and pitcher of the game with a bottle of wine. The idea was the brainchild of the team’s public relations representative, Jason Zillo, and the bottles get progressively better with each passing victory.
“Last night [after the huge upset win over Team USA], I forgot to take the brown paper bags off of them when I handed them out,” Pasquantino said. “So it looked like I was passing 40s around to guys on the team after we won.”
Though he had entered the evening hitless in this tournament, the MVP of Wednesday’s win was obvious: Pasquantino himself. But he passed his bottle along to Marco Mazzieri, the president of the Italian Baseball Federation.
Pasquantino didn’t need any sips from the bottle; he was already perked up by three espresso shots.
He got the scoring started with a solo home run in the second inning that narrowly traveled over Mexico right fielder Jarren Duran’s glove and into the right-field seats.
Pasquantino homered for a second time in the sixth inning, a solo shot that gave the club a commanding 6-0 lead. He put the finishing touches on his historic night with a third home run in the eighth inning against left-hander Robert Garcia.
And to think, Pasquantino had been so desperate for a hit in his first at-bat that he had initially put down a bunt that went foul.
“When he showed the bunt,” said manager Francisco Cervelli, “I said something good is going to happen today, because he was thinking today about the team, how can we win this game, how we can get on base, and then the guys behind pick him up.”
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum requested Pasquantino’s bat (he told them he’s not done with it quite yet) after the game not because of the bunt but because of the blasts.
“I’ve never done it before,” Pasquantino said of the three-homer game, referring not just to his professional career but his entire baseball career going back to Little League. “I don’t have a lot of multi-homer games, in general, but tonight is the first time I’ve ever done it.”
The “Mr. March” moniker might not stick. But the experience Pasquantino is having with this Italian team – and the memories he himself is creating for his teammates – will stay with those involved for a long time.