The career of Jason Giambi as a Yankee just gets more and more interesting. Okay, interesting is not the right word. How about: melodramatic? contentious? fraught with peril? Today Joe Torre put Giambi on a bus to face the rabid horde in Fort Myers. But let's look back first at how we got to this point.

It started on a winter afternoon a few years ago, when Jason was unveiled as the newest Yankee in a press conference at the Stadium. "Look, pop, it's not seven," he said to his father as tears welled in his eyes, "but it's pinstripes." John Giambi had grown up a fan of Mickey Mantle, and now his son would wear #25. It looked like destiny at work: 2+5=7, and would make Giambi the numerical successor at first base to two of the most beloved Yankees in the Steinbrenner era, Don Mattingly (23) and Tino Martinez (24). The Giambi deal was hailed at the time as possibly the biggest free-agent impact signing by the Yankees since Reggie Jackson, and everyone expected Giambi's MVP form to carry through to New York.

But many stars have struggled to adjust in New York, even Chuck Knoblauch and Roger Clemens. In Giambi's case, it was as if the pressure not to succumb to the pressure began on that very first day. Big G did a whirlwind tour of the New York media, including reading the Top Ten list on Letterman, and various clips for the TV news networks. He was asked, repeatedly, how he would handle the pressure.

By the time the home opener at Yankee Stadium came in 2002, who knows how many times Giambi had been asked about pressure? To say that expectations were high would be an understatement. For whatever reason, fans, media, and Giambi himself, expected him to be like Reggie in the World Series.... every single day. That day Giambi went 0-for-5, and by his third at bat, was being booed by disappointed fans. The focus was put on Giambi so much that even thought he yankees won the game, a shutout, Tyler Kepner reported in the New York Times that "everyone had a great time except the man who looked forward to it most."

Many Yankees have heard the boo birds, including Tino Martinez, who despite up and down years, won over the affections of the fans in his first year when he hit an extra innings grand slam in Baltimore. The win sparked a Yankee winning streak, and from that point on the fans got behind him.

Giambi had a similar moment, in extra innings at Yankee Stadium, coming up in the fourteenth inning, with the rain pouring down on May 16th against the Twins. Minnesota had scored three runs in the top of the inning, but the Yankees loaded the bases for Giambi, who hit a monster shot into the wet night, a game-winner. The only other Yankee to hit a grand slam in extras to overcome a three run deficit? Babe Ruth. At the time it seemed like the moment Jason finally became a Yankee.

But he lost traction in 2003, both in his career and with the fans, almost inexplicably as his numbers looked good. Yet somehow he projected the air of a man who was afraid to disappoint, and knew he would. Even two home runs off Pedro Martinez in the fateful Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS (the "Aaron Boone" game) weren't enough to make some fans place him among the pantheon of Yankee heroes. Partly, it was these Yankees have not yet brought home a championship. Partly, it was the whispers and accusations that flew around all summer as the BALCo steroid scandal bloomed, and as Giambi was one of the players who was called to testify in front of the grand jury. Many leaks made it sound as if there was probably evidence that he took steroids, though it remained in question as to whether he broke any of baseball's rules.

But of course the testimony itself eventually did leak. In front of the grand jury, Giambi was the only one of the players to admit to having used steroids, first supplied by a gym in Las Vegas, and later by BALCo. Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield also testified, but pleaded ignorance about what they were using. Only Giambi said he knew what he was doing.

He has been crucified in the press for it. Despite the fact that 5% of the players flunked the steroid tests administered by Major League Baseball, Giambi has been singled out as the sacrificial lamb by every rabble-rousing writer in the country. He has been villified in no uncertain terms.

And that, perhaps, is what has finally caused the fans to give him some sympathy. How can it be anything other than a bum rap? The average fan knows Giambi's testimony, first of all, was supposed to be confidential. The average fan also knows that way more than 5% of players would have been caught if they hadn't known about the tests in advance, meaning Giambi didn't do anything that a lot of other players didn't do as well. And the average fan knows that the any player worth his salt will do anything it takes to compete and win.

And Giambi, for his part, is not hiding his struggles. He spoke to the media before spring training began, holding a press conference in New York to address questions about the testimony and to apologize to his teammates, the Yankees, the writers, and the fans. Now that spring training is here, he has been out signing autographs every day. And he has been in the lineup every day, trying to get back that stroke that will ultimately be the thing that wins over the skeptics.

The funny thing, of course, is that although he has not been hot at the plate, the receptions have been very warm. The cheers have been extra-loud when he comes to the plate--even in Lakeland, where the Yankees met the Tigers a few days ago. But tonight he was in the lineup in Fort Myers, where Red Sox Nation was ready with taunts and chants.

And what did he do? His first at bat, with many leather-lungs screaming the words "steroids steroids steroids," he pulled a ball through the infield, a base hit. The Yankees, who haven't won a game yet this spring in four tries, jumped out to a lead, and added to it when Giambi came up facing John Halama later in the game. The taunts and shouts were no less quiet--but Giambi's hit was louder. This time a low-outside pitch drifted over the plate and Giambi sent it more than 400 feet almost over the batter's eye in center, a home run.

It reminds me of that first season in pinstripes, in 2002, when still sputtering a bit in the slump that began on Opening Day, he stood in the batter's box in Oakland for the first time since leaving the A's for New York. That night, he went 2-for-4 in a 2-1 pitcher's duel, and the following night had another two hits. The question now, as then, is can he keep it up? Oh sure, we say. We don't need Giambi to hit 50 homers or drive in 150 runs. We have Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui, and Jorge Posada, and Bernie Williams. All we need is .300/25/90, right? But would we, or Jason, be happy with that? For whatever reason, we will always expect something big from Jason Giambi. Whether we get it or not, remains to be seen.