Opening Night for the Yankees

BOX SCORE

The Yankees looked more like a team on a mission this season...at least on opening night. Chien-Ming Wang was strong and the bullpen tandem of Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera wrapped up the game in the 8th and 9th respectively. Melky Cabrera homered and made two beautiful plays in the outfield. In fact, if you did not know any better, you would assume this was another Joe Torre team and another Yankee win.

Here's the Game Story:

NEW YORK -- Eighty-five years after Babe Ruth christened Yankee Stadium with a home run, the Yankees kick-started the ballpark's glorious sendoff season with the creation of a new set of memories, posting a tight 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays.

With red, white and blue bunting dangling from all decks of the facility once lauded as a towering, triple-tiered wonder of the sporting world, Melky Cabrera homered and made two outstanding catches to earn a curtain call -- the Yankees' first in a season that promises to be rife with celebratory ovations.

In the sixth, facing Blue Jays starter Roy Halladay, Cabrera connected with a high, arcing shot toward the right-field corner, well ahead of Alex Rios' leap and destined to hammer off the concrete walkway to tie the game. Cabrera's right arm shot out toward the outfield wall as he raced around the bases, and he was later summoned out of the dugout to again acknowledge the crowd.

Cabrera had a long way to run in the third inning, dashing into the gap in right-center field to flag down Lyle Overbay's deep drive before thudding against the wall with a leap. One batter later, Cabrera was racing toward left-center field, stumbling ever so slightly before grabbing Aaron Hill's low liner, completing his acrobatics with a flourishing head-first skid across the wet outfield turf.

The Yankees took the lead in the seventh off Halladay when, with the bases loaded, Aaron Hill couldn't find a quick handle on Hideki Matsui's hot ground ball to second base. Hill flipped the ball to shortstop David Eckstein's bare hand to record a putout, but Alex Rodriguez crossed the plate with the go-ahead run on the fielder's choice.

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