ST. PETERSBURG – Jason Giambi wishes he had a sexier story to explain the gash on the corner of his right eyelid that cause discoloring and swelling.
“I would like to have something to tell you, something like a fight or anything else,” Giambi said. “But it was nothing like that. I walked into the bathroom door at the hotel and split it open.”
The cut resembled a gash a boxer would get during a fight, but didn’t keep Giambi out of the lineup.
“There was so much blood the maid probably was wondering where the body was hid,” said Giambi, whose third-inning double hiked his RBI total across the past seven games to nine and marked the seventh straight game he has plated at least one run.
*
Brian Cashman again refused to discuss his future. While Hank and Hal Steinbrenner want the GM to return, Cashman says the situation will be resolved following the season.
“I have said there is a time and a place. All that stuff needs to wait until the end,” Cashman said. “Hopefully, the end is not soon. I am not focusing on that right now. It’s not something I am talking about internally or externally. There is not an open negotiation. The conversation will be had. Where it leads, I don’t know.”
The Phillies will have a GM opening since Pat Gillick is retiring, and there could be vacancies in Seattle and Washington. Cashman is in the final season of a three-year deal worth $5.4 million.
*
Having passed Mike Schmidt into 12th place by himself with 549 home runs, Alex Rodriguezknows Reggie Jackson is next on the list at 563.
“Reggie is next, that’s the guy I really want,” Rodriguez said.
Via the Phillies’ PR department, Schmidt said he was happy for Rodriguez, whom he spoke to during the introductions at the All-Star Game in July at Yankee Stadium.
“I want to congratulate Alex on 548 and wish him well the remainder of 2008,” Schmidt said before the milestone blast.
*
Joba Chamberlain said he could have pitched last night if needed, and manager Joe Girardi didn’t rule it out. But Chamberlain wasn’t used in consecutive games on the second day back from the DL.
“I could,” Chamberlain had said of working last night after going 11/3 innings and throwing 19 pitches Tuesday night. “I feel good, just general soreness.”
Said Girardi: “We will see, but we will be careful with him.”
Cashman understands the importance of taking care of Chamberlain, who was out almost a month with rotator-cuff tendinitis, but says the Joba Rules that were instituted last year when the righty arrived in the big leagues no longer are in play.
“I think Joe will be careful bringing him back,” Cashman said. “He is rehabbing right now in the big leagues. We think he is healthy, but typically you send him on a rehab assignment.”
*
Girardi could use Alfredo Aceves in place of the struggling Sidney Ponson on Saturday in Seattle if he chooses. However, Girardi wasn’t ready to make that move last night.
*
Bobby Abreu’s reaction to getting called out on strikes by plate ump Greg Gibson in the sixth inning led to Abreu being fined $100 for throwing his helmet and gloves.