Reds 6
Yankees 5
TAMPA – There is no way to protect Jason Giambi from the inevitable. Sooner or later he must face the taunts, the hecklers, and the personal attacks that come with being the poster-boy for baseball’s steroid scandal.
In just about every opposing ballpark for the next six months, Giambi is going to hear it from those who simply hate the Yankees to those who hate him personally for being the symbol he has become, the ugly symbol of cheating to succeed.
There is no way to protect Giambi from this, which is why there is no better place to thicken his skin against the shouts of denigration than the spring training home of the Red Sox.
City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla., might sound like a tranquil setting, but it will offer Giambi his first taste of hell on earth tonight when a Yankees split-squad faces Boston in the first exhibition meeting between the two American League rivals.
Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui and Ruben Sierra are other regulars making the trip, but it’s Giambi who will be vilified the most. “They’re not going to say anything I haven’t heard or I haven’t said myself,” Giambi said yesterday after learning he’d be taking the two-hour bus ride down I-75 South.
While the venom doesn’t figure to be near as bad as it will be the second week in April when the Yankees visit Fenway Park for the first time, tonight’s game certainly won’t offer the cushy surroundings of Legends Field, where Giambi hears only light applause. His lone road game at Lakeland on Saturday was played before mostly ambivalent senior citizens who were happy the rain had stopped for the weekend.
Surely, there will be a hearty group of hardcore members of Red Sox Nation, who have arranged their entire spring to be in Fort Myers tonight to savor the first chance to mock the Yankees and continue the celebration of Boston’s world championship.
Last year, tickets normally in the $20 range sold for $500 on eBay. Commemorative pins were also available. Yankees manager Joe Torre expects the same kind of atmosphere tonight, admitting it will give the Red Sox fans a chance to “howl.” Heckling Giambi will be an unexpected treat. “I’m not worried about it,” Giambi insisted.
To his credit, Giambi has gone about his business as if this spring is no different from any other. He signs autographs, he’s accommodating, and his manager is pleased by his consistency and patience at the plate. “That’s the most important thing,” Torre said.
Problem is, places like Tampa and Lakeland offer the illusion the steroid scandal will blow over by Opening Day. But Giambi can’t play all his games at Legends Field or Yankee Stadium. There’s Fenway Park, Camden Yards, Jacobs Field and Shea Stadium. Better to find out now if he can hold up under the rain of abuse that will follow him through the summer. “I think he’s all right,” Torre said.
Giambi has plenty to prove this year. He must prove he’s worthy of hitting fourth in the Yankees’ lineup, that his body can hold up for a 162-game season, that he’s worth the $82 million still remaining on his contract, and that he can handle the heat opposing fans will bring.
It’s important to find out now because Giambi is the sensitive type, one who cares what people think about him. But maybe he can be like Barry Bonds or Gary Sheffield or Pedro Martinez and block out the barbs and ridicule. He will certainly get plenty of opportunities to prove he can, starting with tonight’s game in Fort Myers.
