The Renaissance of Jason Giambi

Admit it.

Two months ago you were calling for the DFA'ing of Jason Giambi. You couldn't wait for his money to come off the books. Actually, you probably still can't wait for his money to come off the books, but that's not the point.

Two months ago Giambi was done; a shell of his former self, a shell of what he had been able to do while in Oakland.

Two months ago, Giambi was hitting .164 with a .315 OBP and an OPS under .800.*

Two months ago, Jason Giambi was dead weight.


Then came the mustache.


A .315 May and a .324 (so far) June. An OPS this month of 1.071. Suddenly, Giambi has 17 home runs (among the league leaders) and 44 RBI.*

Suddenly, Jason Giambi is no longer dead weight.


Joke all you want about the 'stache. It's hideous, it mysteriously darkens, it makes Groucho Marx look like Johnny Depp, and it works.

There's no other plausible explanation as to why Giambi, on a team known for their strict grooming code, has been allowed to keep it.

Okay, so Giambi's renaissance (of sorts) can not be entirely blamed on the mustache, but that's not the point.


Perhaps you saw Giambi's numbers coming--after all, when he was making outs in April, they weren't strike outs, but simply hitting into the wrong side of the shift, and he was working his walks. More importantly, the hits he did get tended to count--of his twelve April hits, eight of them were for extra bases.

If you did see it coming, however, you would have been in the minority. After all, former steroid users don't suddenly have a mid-Spring renaissance.

Right?



Then again, how many players can boast of the 'Stache?



*Statistics from Yahoo