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 Last opener at the old place, first win for Joe Girardi. Just how the Babe would have wanted it.
Chien-Ming Wang stymied the Toronto Blue Jays for seven innings, making Girardi a winner in his rain-delayed debut as Yankees manager and sending New York to a record-setting 3-2 victory Tuesday night.
"I know he really wanted to win this game," Derek Jeter said. "I'm happy for him."
Back in 1923, Babe Ruth homered in front of 74,200 fans on the day Yankee Stadium opened. This time, it was Melky Cabrera's shot that tied it for New York, and the 84th opener at this storied ballpark ended like so many that came before: with a win by the home team.
"It was a big night," Jason Giambi said. "This one is huge."
After wet weather postponed the festivities Monday, Wang and the Yankees beat ace Roy Halladay (0-1) to win their major league-best 11th consecutive home opener. That snapped a tie with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who won 10 in a row from 1945-54, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
With owner George Steinbrenner and his son, Hank, a Yankees general partner, watching from their suite above home plate, Cabrera also made two outstanding catches in a row in center field.
Alex Rodriguez scored on Hideki Matsui's grounder in the seventh, breaking a 2-all tie.
"This place is always exciting. The fans are an extra player, and it certainly helps them," Toronto manager John Gibbons said.
Joba Chamberlain struck out two in a hitless eighth to the delight of his polio-stricken father, Harlan, who attended the game and cheered from his motorized scooter.
Rivera worked a perfect ninth for the save as the sellout crowd of 55,112 roared.
In other AL games, it was the Los Angeles Angels 9, Minnesota 1; Boston 2, Oakland 1 and Texas 5, Seattle 4.
Girardi took over this season from his popular mentor, Joe Torre, who guided the Yankees to playoff appearances in all 12 years at the helm.
"It's a neat moment for me," Girardi said.
Set to move next year into a new $1.3 billion ballpark that's under construction next door, New York improved to 58-26 in Yankee Stadium openers. The club has won 16 of its past 17, and 22 of 25.
When the game became official after the fifth inning, the video board in right-center showed a tape of George Steinbrenner pulling a lever as the digital countdown of regular-season games remaining at Yankee Stadium flipped from 81 to 80.
"You really can feel it from the fans, this year especially," Hank Steinbrenner said, adding that his father went over to see the new stadium Tuesday. "You can feel the excitement and the fever."
It rained again Tuesday in New York, but the skies cleared about 75 minutes before gametime. Reggie Jackson was escorted to the mound by fellow Hall of Famer Yogi Berra to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
A pair of Yankee Stadium staples were missing, however: longtime broadcaster Bobby Murcer and public-address announcer Bob Sheppard.
Murcer is regaining his strength following a brain biopsy last month. He had surgery in December 2006, four days after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.
Sheppard wasn't behind the microphone because he's recuperating from an illness, so he was replaced by regular backup Jim Hall. But when Jeter stepped to the plate, he was introduced by a recording of Sheppard's famous voice.
"I always want him to announce my name," Jeter said. "To me, Yankee Stadium is not the same without his voice."
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A hamstring injury prevented Wang from starting last year's opener, and he ended the season by getting tagged in two playoff losses to Cleveland. But his sinker was on against Toronto and he was helped by several fine defensive plays
-- including a couple by Giambi at first base.
Girardi visited the mound with a runner on third and two outs in the seventh, then stayed with Wang (1-0). Rodriguez snared David Eckstein's grounder to third, ending the inning.
Coming off his third AL MVP award, A-Rod hit a two-out RBI double in the first inning.
Marco Scutaro and Shannon Stewart had RBI groundouts for Toronto.
Cabrera homered leading off the sixth, a pop fly that barely cleared the 314-foot sign in the right-field corner to Halladay's chagrin. That snapped Cabrera's streak of 163 at-bats without a homer since Aug. 12 at Cleveland.
Angels 9, Twins 1
Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson combined for six hits and five RBIs, and Jon Garland breezed through his first start for visiting Los Angeles.
Torii Hunter had another 0-for-4 night for the Angels against his old team, reaching base only when a ninth-inning pitch from Juan Rincon banged off his elbow.
Garland (1-0) went eight innings and gave up just six hits and one walk.
Los Angeles had three hard-hit doubles in the first seven at-bats against Boof Bonser (0-1). Guerrero and Anderson went back-to-back with theirs for a 2-0 lead in the first.
Red Sox 2, Athletics 1
Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out nine and didn't walk a batter, allowing two hits and one run over 6 2-3 innings as Boston spoiled Oakland's home opener.
Kevin Youkilis went 3-for-4 with a triple and scored twice as these two clubs resumed a season-opening series that began with a split in Tokyo last week. Youkilis hit a two-out triple off the left-field wall in the sixth, then scored on Jason Varitek's double off Joe Blanton (0-1).
Jack Cust hit a solo home run leading off the second for the only score against Matsuzaka (1-0). Jonathan Papelbon recorded the final four outs for his second save, striking out the side in the ninth.
Rangers 5, Mariners 4
Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer in the ninth off All-Star closer J.J. Putz to lift visiting Texas.
Putz (0-1) dropped his head after Hamilton connected on his first-pitch, 93 mph fastball with one out. Putz blew his first save in his second game of the season. He didn't blow his first last season until July 25
-- at Texas.
Joaquin Benoit (1-0) relieved with a 3-1 lead in the eighth but Seattle went ahead on an RBI single by Yuniesky Betancourt, who had four hits, an RBI grounder by Ichiro Suzuki that second baseman Ian Kinsler misplayed for an error and a run-scoring wild pitch.
[Associated Press; By MIKE FITZPATRICK]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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