Sunday, April 07, 2002
Baseball notes: McGwire phone call settles down Giambi
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Jason Giambi's telephone rang and Big Mac was on the line.
“Will you relax out there?” Mark McGwire told him. “Don't bury yourself. You're too good a hitter.”
Giambi, off to a struggling start with the New York Yankees, got a telephone call Friday from his former Oakland teammate and talked about it after Saturday's 3-0 win over Tampa Bay.
McGwire, in his first season of retirement, watched Giambi go 0-for-5 Friday and thought Giambi was pressing.
“He said he did the same thing when he first went to St. Louis,” Giambi said.
Giambi, who played alongside McGwire from 1995 until Big Mac was dealt to the Cardinals in 1997, concentrated on relaxing Saturday. On the cold afternoon, he was the designated hitter instead of playing first base and went 0-for-1 with two walks Saturday and was hit by a pitch, but he said the talk helped.
“I didn't feel so much like a deer in headlights,” he said.
He popped out in the first inning after driving a ball foul into the right-field upper deck, walked in the third and fifth innings and was hit on the right shoulder blade by a Doug Creek pitch in the seventh. He left that inning for a pinch-runner.
“If I had stayed out there a little longer, I would have gotten my ice in,” Giambi joked.
On Friday, fans booed Giambi and chanted “Tino! Tino!” in a reference to his predecessor, Tino Martinez. On Saturday, the fans chanted “Let's Go Jason!”
Giambi, who signed a $120 million, seven-year deal with New York in the offseason, is batting .118 (2-for-17) with no RBI this season.
After hitting .315 or better with 120 or more RBI his last three seasons with Oakland, Giambi knows there are big expectations from fans.
“I want to do just as good as they want me to do good,” he said. “I put just as much pressure on myself as they do,” he said.
He said he tried to put pressing out of his mind, “but you always have it in the back of your head.”
John Giambi, the slugger's father, was in the clubhouse with his son before the game and watched batting practice on the field. He understood Friday's razzing from fans.
“They paid their money,” he said. “They have a right to do whatever they want to do.”
• Ramiro Mendoza, who had been bothered by a stiff neck, is set to rejoin the Yankees' bullpen after throwing a scoreless inning in an extended spring training game. Manager Joe Torre said the reliever probably would be activated before Monday's game at Toronto.
GIANTS: Second baseman Jeff Kent returned to the lineup after a stint on the disabled list because of a broken bone in his left wrist. He missed the Giants' first four games of the season and all but two games in spring training.
Kent was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run Saturday.
TWINS: Minnesota placed second baseman Luis Rivas (left forearm contusion) and outfielder Brian Buchanan (bruised back) on the 15-day disabled list.
RANGERS: Left-hander Rich Rodriguez was put on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 4 because of poor circulation in his left index finger. Texas recalled outfielder Kevin Mench from Triple-A Oklahoma.
BLUE JAYS: The team purchased the contract of right-hander Brian Cooper from Triple-A Syracuse. He will start today's game against Minnesota.
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Baseball notes: McGwire phone call settles down Giambi
