FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Jason Giambi provided most of the juice when the Red Sox played the Yankees on Monday night in the first reunion of the rivals since Boston’s epic triumph last fall.

New York’s designated hitter, the symbol of baseball’s steroids problem, arrived at the second annual hugely overhyped exhibition game, gave a mass interview, got a hug from Kevin Millar, took batting practice and signed autographs for 25 minutes.

Then, as two men behind the plate screamed “Steroids! Steroids! Steroids!” in the fifth inning, he sent a pitch from left-hander John Halama over the fence in right-center field for his first home run of the spring. Giambi went 2-for-5 in New York’s 9-2 win, leaving him with a .250 average (3-for-12) with two RBIs.

“For the critics, it’s always nice,” Giambi said. “A lot of the hard work paid off tonight.”

Patrons in the crowd of 7,723 at City of Palms Park were polite during batting practice, then booed when he was introduced and again before he singled sharply to right field in the first inning.

“Come on, Juicy!” one loud fan yelled.

“Let’s go BALCO!” chanted a group of four, referring to the laboratory in the federal investigation of steroid distribution.

Giambi popped out in the third, took a called third strike in the seventh and grounded out in the ninth.

In the stands, someone held a sign that read: “Jason Do You Have Milk.” The word “Milk” was crossed out and followed by “Juice?”

“People ought to give Giambi a chance. He’s a great dude, man,” Boston’s David Ortiz said. “Everybody knows that he’s not using anything, and he still hit the ball like that.”

During Giambi’s first three games of spring training, he was received warmly. But two of those were at Tampa’s Legends Field, where the Yankees are based, and one at Lakeland, where New York fans were as numerous as Detroit supporters.

Giambi, one of only a handful of Yankees regulars who made the two-hour bus ride for the split-squad game, was prepared to face the Red Sox Nation. Giambi said he tuned out the taunts.

“He had a couple people yelling BALCO stuff, which you’re going to find in a lot of places,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

Last spring, there was a big buzz for New York’s game in Fort Myers. Aaron Boone’s 11th-inning homer off Tim Wakefield had beaten Boston in Game 7, and the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez, the AL MVP, from Texas after the Red Sox failed.

Boston upset the usual order last October, becoming the first major league team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series. The Red Sox beat New York for the pennant, then swept St. Louis for their first World Series title since 1918. Since winning Game 3, including spring training, the Yankees had been 0-8-1.

With A-Rod, Derek Jeter and New York’s entire regular pitching staff back in Tampa, the hoopla was down a notch in this game. The uniform numbers of the starting pitchers totaled 156, with Abe Alvarez (79) starting for Boston against Chien-Ming Wang (76). Neither figures to be at Yankee Stadium when these teams play the major league season opener on April 3 or at Fenway Park when the World Series flag is raised eight days later.

Along with the $5.67 commemorative pin and Yankees-Red Sox tic-tac-toe game and chess set, there was plenty of merchandise marked “World Series champions.”

The changed attitude of the perennial underdog was noticeable even at the entrance to the Boston clubhouse, where a photo of the Red Sox at the White House with the former Texas Rangers owner, President Bush, hangs on the bulletin board.

Following a winter of adoration, Red Sox players still are their noisy boisterous selves, perhaps even more so with the addition of former Yankee David Wells.

“Now New Yorkers can’t chant “1918!’ anymore,” Wells said.

For more than eight decades, the Yankees piled it on, winning 26 World Series titles to Boston’s zero. Now Red Sox fans are puffing out their chests with pride.

A sampling of the T-shirts on fans:

“From Cursed to First.”

“Hey Yankees … Who’s Your Daddy now?”

Millar looked ahead to the home opener, a celebration of the mighty moment last October.

“The rings will probably be the best, the ultimate,” he said.

Millar also voiced support for Giambi, who appeared to enjoy his time signing autographs for and speaking with fans near the Yankees dugout on the first-base side. A young girl gave Giambi a white bear, and he gave her his batting gloves.

He signed the cover of Red Sox Magazine, with Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin and the World Series trophy on the cover.

“That’s a Red Sox hat, Jason,” one fan said.

“That’s all right,” Giambi replied before signing it.

Someone threw him a dollar bill, and he autographed that, too.

“He treats people and respects people more than any other superstar I’ve been around,” Millar said.

These teams know each other well following 52 games that mattered the last two years. More drama will ensue this spring and summer. A natural progression has developed: two silly overblown exhibitions, 19 brutally fought regular-season games that include a fight or two, and a seven-game ALCS.

“Every time you play against the Red Sox, something unbelievable is going to happen,” Giambi said. “It gets pretty intense.”

AP-ES-03-07-05 2232EST