Giambi Concerns Loom Over Yankees

It's been a long season for New York Yankee slugger Jason Giambi. First, he was mentioned in the steroid scandal and then his strength was sapped by an intestinal parasite. Can the Yankees survive without their cleanup hitter?

The Evil Empire, which is formally known as the New York Yankees, has been able to weather injuries to Kevin Brown, Mike Mussina, Bernie Williams, and now Jason Giambi to lead the Red Sox in the American League East race. However, the latest setback to perennial 100-RBI-man Giambi has raised eyebrows about the future health of the former Oakland A's star.

The Yankees appear so concerned about Giambi that they had Fred McGriff, the aged Crime Dog, in for a workout this week. A potential Tony Clarke/McGriff platoon would do little to strike fear in the Yankees opponents. Who knows, maybe the Yanks will look acquire a first baseman before the trade deadline at the end of the month.

The press was a little suspect this past spring when Giambi came into spring training looking a lot thinner than in previous years. It was as if somebody had taken the spinach away from the left-handed hitting Popeye.

Maybe it was a foreshadowing of things to come; after all, his .221 average with 11 homeruns and 36 RBIs in 70 games this season are well below his career averages. Heck, those homerun numbers are even below former Baltimore Oriole shortstop Mark Belanger's career total of 20.

So, can the Yankees win without Giambi? Part of me says, "Who cares!" but the rational portion of my brain believes that anything is possible. The Florida Marlins proved last year that a hot team is a dangerous team. The Yankees expend so much energy on the Boston Red Sox that they rarely have anything left for other teams. I must admit that those Yankee/Red Sox games are the most entertaining I've seen since the Yankees/Mets Subway Series.

Baseball aside, we all hope that any news that Jason Giambi gets this week is anything but life-threatening. The Yankees slugger should know that health is much more important than hitting homeruns into the bleachers at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees will continue winning games, and hopefully Giambi will be wearing his familiar number 25 again real soon!

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