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GIAMBI THE SHAME OF PROUD: BARRY BONDS BOMBSHELL: I USED ‘RX’ FROM ‘ROID FIRM

Baseball was reeling and Yankee fans were screaming yesterday after it was revealed that slugger Jason Giambi lied about steroids – denying publicly that he’d ever used performance-enhancing drugs even after he admitted he’d taken them to a San Francisco grand jury probing steroid pushers.

The game received another jolt late last night when it was revealed that megastar Barry Bonds told the grand jury he used a clear substance and a rubbing cream supplied by his trainer, who allegedly gave steroids in similar form to Giambi, the San Francisco Chronicle reports today.

Bonds, the single-season home run record-holder, said in his grand-jury testimony that Greg Anderson, his trainer, told him the substances were a nutritional supplement and a rubbing balm for arthritis.

The baseball bombshells left many fans confused and angry, and Yankee fans directed their wrath yesterday at Giambi.

“He should be tossed from the Yankees and baseball – there’s no room for that in sports,” said Gary Bendel of Staten Island.

Robert Patello, 42, also of Staten Island, said, “A lot of the fans are kids, and then they see him doing the wrong thing. They should get rid of him.”

That could happen.

Giambi, the American League MVP in 2000 when he played for Oakland, may be accused of violating his seven-year, $120 million contract with the Yankees by taking the drugs, a baseball source told The Post.

The Yankees and Major League Baseball believe Giambi’s admitted drug use goes against standard contract language that says players may not conduct themselves in a detrimental manner or engage in illegal activities, the source said. That could be grounds for voiding his contract.

The Yankees and MLB will argue, according to a source, that “this is an act that [Giambi] has done to himself that has affected his performance.”

Publicly, the Yankees’ front office said it was working with baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s office “to obtain all of the facts in the matter. We have made no decisions and will keep all of our options open.”

Bonds’ testimony could be a bigger blow to the game. When the seven-time – and reigning – MVP was confronted in the grand jury by federal prosecutors with documents that indicated he knowingly used steroids and human-growth hormone, the San Francisco Giants slugger denied the allegations, according to the Chronicle.

The documents, seized from Anderson’s house, included what appeared to be drug-taking schedules and billing information that named Bonds, the Chronicle reports.

Bonds was told he wouldn’t be prosecuted if he testified truthfully, but faces a possible perjury charge if it turns out he lied under oath.

Meanwhile, Selig told reporters that Giambi’s admission is another sign that the game needs a stronger anti-steroid policy at the major league level.

“We’re going to leave no stone unturned until we have that policy in place by spring training 2005,” he said.

Word was that Selig and Major League Baseball would like to institute the policy even sooner. A strict anti-steroid policy was imposed on minor league players in 2001.

Giambi himself was nowhere to be found yesterday.

At spring training last February, reporters asked Giambi if he took performance-enhancing drugs.

“Do you mean steroids?” he replied. “No.”

But the detailed and devastating Chronicle report said that on Dec. 11, 2003 – testifying under oath to a federal grand jury in San Francisco – the five-time All Star detailed how he used steroids from BALCO, a San Francisco-area firm suspected of supplying performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes, including Bonds.

And for two years before then, Giambi said, he injected himself with a steroid he’d obtained from a Las Vegas gym, the Chronicle said.

Giambi, 33, said he got his BALCO drugs from Anderson, who was indicted last February with BALCO founder Victor Conte and two others on steroid distribution and money laundering charges.

In November 2002, during a barnstorming tour of Japan with Bonds and other major leaguers, Giambi asked Anderson about Bonds’ workout and health regimens, according to the account of the grand jury session.

“So I started to ask him: ‘Hey, what are the things you’re doing with Barry? He’s an incredible player. I want to still be able to work out at that age and keep playing,'” Giambi testified. “And that’s how the conversation first started.”

Giambi flew to San Francisco in late November or early December 2002 after his first season with the Yankees and met Anderson in a gym near BALCO’s headquarters.

Anderson then began discussing the drugs he could supply Giambi.

For the next few months, Giambi said, Anderson supplied him with steroids, including injectable testosterone and two BALCO concoctions – “The Clear,” liquid drops placed beneath the tongue, and “The Cream,” a skin ointment rubbed on muscled areas.

Giambi described injecting the steroids in his buttocks. He also said he shot into his belly fat doses of human growth hormone, which he obtained from a Las Vegas gym close to his home in nearby Henderson, Nev.

Among the other drugs Giambi believes he took was Clomid, a female fertility drug that can boost the muscle-building effect of steroids. Ominously, Clomid stimulates the pituitary gland – and Giambi was sidelined for much of last season with a benign pituitary gland tumor. Doctors are warned not to give the drug to people with pituitary tumors.

Giambi said he didn’t know the contents of all the pills Anderson gave him.

“He didn’t really explain them,” he testified, according to the Chronicle. “He just told me to take them … He explained it has something to do with the system … He just said to take it in conjunction with all the stuff.”

Anderson kept him supplied with BALCO drugs through the middle of the 2003 season, Giambi said. He decided not to use a second batch of drugs Anderson sent him in July that year because he had a knee injury and “didn’t want to do any more damage.”

In all, Giambi said, he spent from $7,000 to $10,000 on the treatments he obtained from Anderson.

He finished the 2003 season with 41 home runs and a .250 batting average. Last year, Giambi played just 80 games – about half the season – and batted .208 with 12 homers.

At the grand jury, Giambi was asked: “Had this all not become public, would you still be using?”

“I didn’t actually notice a huge difference, to be honest with you,” Giambi answered. “I of course got injured this year [2003]. So, that’s not a fair assessment, either. Maybe, yes, no, I don’t know.”

Giambi’s younger brother Jeremy, who played for the minor-league Las Vegas 51s last season, also told the grand jury he’d used drugs from Anderson – including “The Clear” and “The Cream,” both of which he understood to be undetectable alternatives to steroids.

And like his brother, Jeremy Giambi also took some multicolored pills Anderson gave him, even though he didn’t know what they were, the San Francisco paper reported.

“I didn’t think the guy would send me something that was, you know, Drano or something,” said Jeremy, 30.

Among the other baseball stars to have testified before the grand jury was Yankee outfielder Gary Sheffield, who admitted before this year’s playoffs that he’d unwittingly used a steroid cream he’d obtained from BALCO.

In an interview to be aired tonight on the ABC show “20/20,” BALCO founder Victor Conte admitted he provided “The Clear” and “The Cream” steroids to Anderson, but that he wasn’t sure whether Anderson gave them to Bonds, Giambi, Sheffield or other baseball players.

In his own words

Excerpts from Jason Giambi’s Dec. 11, 2003, testimony to a San Francisco federal grand jury:

Giambi discussed his initial meeting with Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’ weight trainer, who is under indictment on charges of conspiracy to distribute steroids:

“I started to ask him: ‘Hey, what are the things you’re doing with Barry? He’s an incredible player. I want to still be able to work out at that age and keep playing.'”

Question from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nedrow: “Did Mr. Anderson provide you with actual injectable testosterone?”

“Yes,” replied Giambi.

Nedrow then referred Giambi to an alleged calendar of drug use seized during a raid on Anderson’s home.

Addressing a January 2003 entry, the prosecutor said: “OK. And this ‘Injectable T,’ or testosterone, is basically a steroid, correct?”

A: “Yes.”

Q: “And did he talk to you about the fact it was a steroid at the time?”

A: “Yeah, I mean, I – I don’t know if we got into a conversation about it, but we both knew about it, yes.”

Giambi said Anderson described BALCO’s steroid products, “The Cream,” a skin balm, and “The Clear,” taken by placing a few drops under the tongue, as “an alternative to steroids, but it doesn’t show on a steroid test.

“And he started talking about that it would raise your testosterone levels, you know, which would basically make it a steroid . . . or maybe he said it’s an alternative of taking an injectable steroid.”

Q: “Had this all not become public, would you still be using?”

A: “I didn’t actually notice a huge difference, to be honest with you. I, of course, got injured this year. So that’s not a fair assessment, either. Maybe, yes, no, I don’t know.”

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Medicine cabinet

“The Clear”

A BALCO concoction containing the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. It’s a liquid dropped under the tongue. The FDA banned THG last year.

“The Cream”

A BALCO testosterone-based balm athletes rubbed on their body. The company said “The Cream” can’t be detected by drug tests. Testosterone promotes muscle growth.

Injectable testosterone

One shot is good for several weeks of muscle growth. Giambi said BALCO gave him a steroid drug, “Injectable T,” which he shot into his butt. Before he got BALCO steroids, he got Deca Durabolin, an injectable steroid, from a Las Vegas gym.

Human Growth Hormone

Not a steroid, but it builds muscle and boosts performance. Also marketed as an anti-aging drug. It is only FDA-approved for treating children for dwarfism.

Clomid

Giambi wasn’t sure, but he testified that a white pill given him by BALCO might have been Clomid, a female fertility drug that can enhance the effectiveness of testosterone. It also stimulates the pituitary gland. Giambi was sidelined for much of 2004 by a benign pituitary-gland tumor.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Post research

Side effects of anabolic steroids:

* Shrinking of the testicles

* Reduced sperm count

* Infertility

* Baldness

* Development of breasts

* Increased risk of prostate cancer

* Liver tumors and cancer

* High blood pressure

* Jaundice (yellowing of the skin, tissues and body fluids)

Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse