Coming off a June (game log) in which he batted .310 with a .474 OBP and a .905 OPS, albeit with only one one dinger, Giambi went 5-for-7 with three home runs, two doubles, a walk and a HBP in nine plate appearances in the two-game mini-sweep.

I never thought I'd see Tino Martinez come off the bench as a pinch-runner, but that was a really cool thing Joe Torre did, as he allowed Giambi to receive a well-deserved standing ovation while trotting back to the dugout after a sixth-inning double.

Giambi's OBP now stands at .420, best on the Yankees and trailing only Brian Roberts' .427 in the American League. Three other Yankees — Alex Rodriguez (.415), Gary Sheffield (.394) and Hideki Matsui (.385) are in the top 10. (Giambi doesn't have enough plate appearances to officially qualify for league leaders, but he's only a few plate appearances off pace.)

Looks like I was onto something when I noticed at the Stadium weeks ago that Giambi looked a little bulked up again. Hey man, whatever works. Desperate times, bro. You know the rest.

Notes From Tuesday's Game:

• Leading off the bottom of the fifth inning, with the Yankees up 10-0, John Flaherty grounded out, meaning that he and Tony Womack, who each earlier bounced into a double play, were responsible for eight of New York's 13 outs to that point. Combined, they went 1-for-9 with four strikeouts and 10 men left on base.

• Giambi delivered Tuesday's Buzzword, a between-innings Diamondvision game in which a selected fan gets three chances to link a clue given by a Yankee to a secret word. The first clue was "my father's favorite player." I knew the answer was Mickey Mantle, but for goofs I would've written down Jeremy Giambi.

• The attendance was 55,276 on an afternoon work day. Whew. Still, a friend and I picked up two-for-$25 upper-deckers off the street, then moved to empty Tier box seats which are normally $40 each. More and more, I'm learning to never pay retail.

• I finally ran into one of the Ultimate Road Trip crew — four fans who are attending all 162 Yankees games, as part of a YES Network reailty series. So many people told me to audition for it, but I was out of town when casting was going on. Anyway, here's a pic of me with Bleacher Creature super-fan Vinny Milano, who was a really nice guy.

• How am I supposed to choose between Jeter and Matsui for the final spot in the All-Star Game? Captain Intangibles is batting .308, tops the AL in runs scored and is among the league leaders in hits, walks and OBP. Oh, and he's Derek Jeter and this is an All-Star Game. Godzilla is batting .317 and is fourth in the AL with 65 RBIs, behind three All-Star starters. I don't know who to pick, so I voted for them each 10 times on MLB.com.

• What do you think Giambi said to Sammy Sosa, when So-So broke an 0-for-20 slide and stood at first base? "So, Sammy, how was Washington?" "No speak English, Giambino."

• The game ended before 4 p.m., and the Yankees have off before hosting the Indians for four games starting Thursday. Tonight's a celebrity-spotting opportunity in the clubs if ever there was one.

I Need Your Sports Links: I'm writing Friday's and next Monday's update on SportsByBrooks.com, so if you come across any good links for inclusion, I'll be forever grateful if you send 'em my way.

Today's Sports Links (That I'm Not Saving for SbB):

• Public Enemy No. 1 — David Shoenfield runs down the most-hated MLBers by fans of each team. Smart idea. A-Rod gets the most-hated nod by three teams, which is understandable because he signed a contract to get paid $252 million to play baseball. None of us would have done that.

• Ex-Syracuse Player Edelin Enrolled at NAIA School — How one goes from being a key freshman in an NCAA title run (11 ppg in the 2003 tourney) to taking classes at Mountain State University I'll never know.