Sources connected to Travis tell TMZ ... he's taken aback by her inflammatory comments about him on her podcast -- where she characterized him as a party animal and as someone who reminded her of an ex ... in a bad way.

We're told Travis has never met Jana ... and before Tuesday, he wasn't familiar with her whatsoever -- even though she's technically famous from her "One Tree Hill" days, etc.

In any case ... our sources tell us Travis thinks Jana is blowing hot air just to get attention for her pod, which -- based on what we're told people in his world have learned about her -- is par for the course. Jana has a bit of a history of publicly name-dropping/dragging celebs.

She did something similar last year, when she called Brody Jenner the "absolute worst" date she'd been on ... so yeah, there's a track record of her kinda crapping on other stars.

Our sources tell us Travis and co. feel like this is just more of the same ... and that she only invoked his name to clout-chase -- and on its face, you could argue it worked. Her remarks got picked up wide by lots of media outlets ... but we're told Travis isn't paying it any mind.

As for the actual criticism that Travis parties a ton ... it is what it is, we suppose. The guy's enjoying his offseason, and yeah -- he certainly likes to have a good time. Ditto for Taylor.

There are some that feel Taylor is, in fact, drinking more these days as her relationship with Travis goes on -- but hey, these are grown folks and they can make their own decisions. As for Jana weighing in ... it's pretty clear how TK feels -- keep it to your damn self, lady!