Jason Giambi was mobbed by teammates after reaching home. “This is what you dream about as a kid,” he said, “especially in Yankee Stadium.” (Photo by Barton Silverman/ The New York Times)
Giambi’s Home Run Is a Pain Reliever By JOE LAPOINTE, June 6, 2008
After Jason Giambi’s titanic home run landed in the third deck to give the Yankees a 9-8 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, he hopped, skipped and jumped around the bases, ignoring the pain in his sore left foot that had kept him out of the starting lineup for two games.
“I didn’t feel anything,” Giambi said. “It hurts now.” He was standing in the clubhouse, his feet bare, his left foot bandaged after having been hit by a pitch two days before.
His two-run shot — as a pinch-hitter on an 0-2 count, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning against closer B. J. Ryan — gave the Yankees two consecutive victories and a .500 record again (30-30) in one of their most dramatic finishes of the season.
Although the ending was memorable, it was witnessed by less than half of the 53,571 fans who were there earlier. Many of them might have left because of the game’s length: 3 hours 53 minutes. But they should know that the fourth hour of a Yankees game is sometimes the most interesting.
Until then, they could have been discouraged by the Yankees’ mistakes, which included a dropped fly ball by Melky Cabrera that negated a possible inning-ending double play and fueled Toronto’s five-run rally in the fifth. Some might have been annoyed by Robinson Canó’s failure to bunt in the eighth inning.
Read More