TAMPA – Jason Giambi once again referred to Jose Canseco as “delusional” yesterday, which only makes you wonder if the fallen slugger actually owns a mirror.

Because no player lives further from reality these days than Giambi. All last year he lied to reporters about his steroid use. Now he is just lying to himself. Giambi says he is mentally tough, making him the only current Yankee employee who thinks that. Joe Torre doesn’t. Brian Cashman doesn’t. No Yankee player does.

Why would they? Giambi quit on the World Series in 2003 and seemed ready to quit altogether last year when his private, professional and pharmaceutical life crumbled around him. He might have cost the Yankees two titles in the process and definitely cost himself the last shreds of his reputation.

Now he says he is back to reclaim his good name and lost game, which sounds like one more double Giambi will not be hitting. Giambi is 34, has an unstable left knee and is two years removed from his last consistently good play. That would be hard enough for a player of dubious athleticism to overcome. Yet for Giambi that is the easy part.

His degree of difficulty expands because he is the poster boy for steroid use after his BALCO grand jury confession leaked and Canseco defined him as “The Most Obvious Juicer in the Game.” Giambi said Canseco’s book “should be on the fictional best seller list.” But that would be the right category for Giambi’s career achievements, as well.

Does anyone actually believe this once lean third baseman would have swelled to be an MVP without laboratory assistance? Now, if Giambi is indeed clean – and, to me, this known liar’s words are not good enough on the subject – you have to wonder if he thinks he can perform without his vile vials. And you definitely have to wonder if a good-natured player who yearns to be loved and hates confrontation can excel amid the forum of suspicions and scorn that will haunt Giambi wherever he goes in at least 2005.

“I know rough days are coming, but I’m not going to shy away from it,” Giambi said.

We’ll see. As Brian Cashman said, “It is a harder mountain for him to climb because he’s sensitive.” The climb truly begins this morning, shortly after 11:40 a.m., when Giambi takes batting practice on the Legends Field main diamond before a few thousand fans and media. It is just the first full workout, the pitcher will be a coach and Giambi has been instructed to go slow and relearn driving the ball to the opposite field.

But here is the thing – with all of that, it is going to be the most watched element of the day and if Giambi leaves a bunch of balls on the warning track, well, he is not going to get the benefit of the doubt. And that is just the beginning. Giambi, a notoriously poor spring hitter, cannot simply amble through the exhibition season as if his first important at-bat will be April 3 against Curt Schilling. Torre conceded he must still see sting in the bat to honor Giambi with regular playing time come the real season. Without that sting, Giambi will be reduced to the Yankees’ $82 million hood ornament.

Giambi thinks a great hitter is still inside him. Then again, if his words are to be believed, he views himself as a guy who “faced his problems and didn’t run from them.” That is an interesting take, since he lied in the past and still will not say in the present exactly what those “problems” were.

Giambi is gregarious and likeable, so he can retain goodwill inside his clubhouse and with the home fans should he actually be able to provide natural muscle from the DH spot. For now, though, that DH stands for Delusional Hitter.