Giambi meets with officials over comments

On the same day a report alleged he failed an amphetamines test, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees met with lawyers from the baseball commissioner’s office Wednesday to discuss his recent comments on steroids.

“The commissioner requested that Jason come in in response to the USA Today piece. Jason was interviewed this morning,” union general counsel Michael Weiner said.

He was not interviewed about the amphetamine report, which appeared in the New York Daily News. The paper said he flunked the test within the last year.

Asked about the report at Yankee Stadium, Giambi said: “I can’t give you an accurate explanation.”

Asked about the meeting, which was held in New York, he said, “I hope it went smooth. It was definitely a willingness on both sides.”

Giambi, a figure in baseball’s drug controversy for several years, was quoted in USA Today Friday as saying: “I was wrong for doing that stuff. What we should have done a long time ago was stand up -- players, ownership, everybody -- and said: ‘We made a mistake.’ We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward.”

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Tampa Bay rookie Elijah Dukes was held out of the lineup Wednesday against Seattle following a published report that his estranged wife sought a restraining order after being threatened by the 22-year-old outfielder.

The St. Petersburg Times reported NiShea Gilbert filed for court protection after receiving a threatening message on her cell phone on May 2, as well as a text message that included a picture of a handgun.

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Arizona left-hander Randy Johnson will miss his next start Friday with tendinitis in his forearm.... In his second minor league start, Roger Clemens gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings for the Yankees’ double-A team in Trenton, N.J., against Boston’s Portland, Maine, affiliate.