Giambi rekindles old spark

NEW YORK – Jason Giambi was the talk of the town Thursday – for all the right reasons.

A day after baseball’s biggest enigma hit a two-run, 10th-inning homer off Jose Mesa to give New York a 7-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, his team was still buzzing about the upper-deck drive, hoping the electric ending would spark Giambi and the Yankees to regain their old form.

“You look in his eyes and you know that he’s hurting at times, maybe not physically, but with everything he’s gone through,” manager Joe Torre said. “I think sometimes we forget these players have blood running through their veins.”

For much of baseball, Giambi has been Mr. Steroids, partly because of his public comments, a stark contrast to surly Barry Bonds. Giambi all but said during a February news conference that he told a federal grand jury in 2003 he had used performance-enhancing drugs and was taunted at times on the road.

While fans supported him at Legends Field during spring training and at Yankee Stadium when the season began, their impatience grew with every New York loss.

When Mike Gonzalez struck him out with the potential tying run on second base in the eighth inning Wednesday night, the boos sounded angrier than usual, added tonnage on a not-quite-as-broad back already sagging under the weight of expectations created by his $120 million, seven-year contract.

“I’m a human being,” Giambi said, admitting the harsh treatment was no “joy, especially when you’re in your home ballpark.”

He wants desperately to deliver.

“Deep inside, I want to get a hit as badly as they want me to get a hit,” he said. “For one swing, I put it all together.”

Since reporting to spring training, Giambi has worked with batting coach Don Mattingly to regain the swing that earned him the American League Most Valuable Player in 2000. In mid-May, he added sessions with coach Mitch Seoane, hitting off a tee in a batting cage.

“It’s tough here for him,” Mattingly said. “Without making excuses for him, he gets a hit last night the first time up, he gets up the second time, he’s getting booed.”

Giambi was mobbed by teammates after giving the Yankees their first win in 31 games this year when trailing after eight innings.

“There was no hesitation on hugging that big bear,” Torre said.

Derek Jeter told Giambi during the 10th that he would be the one to win the game. Jeter was disappointed by the earlier boos.

“You hope the fans will start cheering for him,” Jeter said.