Jason Giambi knew he was one pop-up in a critical situation away from being booed by the Yankee Stadium faithful last night, because in his second month as a Yankee he understands the vibe.
Begged for a curtain call after a clutch two-run homer in Thursday’s 9-2 win over the A’s, Giambi was aware how fickle Yankee fans have treated him.
“All year long it’s been back and forth,” Giambi said of the treatment he has received at The Stadium. “The biggest thing is that I have worked hard.”
While Giambi hasn’t been the fearsome hitter he was the past two years in Oakland during April, the boo-at-the-drop-of-a-hat treatment he has received in The Bronx has been a bit puzzling.
He is everything New Yorkers love: blue-collar worker, friendly and not afraid of anything.
Yet, to a lot of Yankee fans he isn’t Tino Martinez, who morphed into Lou Gehrig once he wasn’t asked back after being a good, but not great player in six pinstriped seasons.
Other fans foolishly believe that just because George Steinbrenner dropped $120 million across seven years on Giambi that he was automatically supposed to be a cross between Reggie Jackson and Don Mattingly.
And while he hasn’t, it’s not like he was hitting .208 going into last night’s action against Mariners’ right-hander Freddie Garcia.
“I have been feeling comfortable and doing what I can,” Giambi said after going 3-for-4, driving in three runs and raising his average to a season-high .291.
“Every day I get more comfortable in calling this place home.”
Joe Torre, who rarely goes overboard one way or another when discussing players, admitted Giambi’s two-run homer in the sixth inning Thursday off a 1-1 pitch from Cory Lidle that snapped a 2-2 tie, was huge.
“I said, ‘They are asking for more so give it to them,'” Torre said of the crowd calling Giambi out of the dugout. “He needed that. This was an impact night for him.”
Giambi has taken the high road during a rocky April when he batted .282 with four homers and 15 RBIs. Now that he is starting to look like the punishing hitter of his Oakland days, he isn’t about to take shots at the fickle fans.
“The crowd loves big things to happen,” Giambi said. “They respond and blow up.”
The Yankees would love for Giambi to blow it all up in the second month of the season. Especially if Bernie Williams, Rondell White and Nick Johnson continue to struggle, and the right-field platoon of Shane Spencer and John Vander Wal doesn’t pan out.
Based on him batting .384 with seven homers and 25 RBIs last May, the Yankees could be encouraged. And the newness of being a Yankee and living in New York fades a little more every day.
“Once the machine gets going it’s going to be fun to watch,” Giambi said.
Since he is a big part of the Yankees’ offseason efforts to repair a lineup that set a record for World Series futility with a .183 batting average, Giambi could jump-start the machine with a lot of loud noise coming from his bat.
“I have to be more patient,” said Giambi, who fanned 25 times in the first 24 games but hadn’t punched out in the last six going into last night’s action.
“I know if I hit the ball hard [homers] will come.”