Yankees lose season opener

On the other side of the world, these N.Y. Yankees looked lost.
Former Blue Jay Jose Cruz Jr. hit a tying home run that sparked a comeback, Tino Martinez helped beat his former team with his 300th career homer, and the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays roughed up Mike Mussina in defeating the Yankees 8-3 in baseball’s season-opener today in Japan.
“Hopefully, it’s 5 a.m. and not many people were watching,” Alex Rodriguez said, thinking of when the game began New York time.
The team that dominates the AL East couldn’t do much in the Far East, getting outhit 15-7 and playing sluggishly in the field.
A-Rod’s first game in pinstripes won’t be remembered fondly in the Bronx. He took called third strikes his first two times up before doubling and popping out.
But he did make three sparkling defensive plays at third base—the position he switched to when Texas traded him to New York last month.
Hideki Matsui had the first hit of the major league season—a first-inning double in front of the fans who adore their homegrown hero. He later scored on Jason Giambi’s opposite-field two-run homer to left.
Gary Sheffield also had a checked-swing RBI double in his first game for New York.
But aside from that, the defending American League champions seemed jet-lagged against the younger Devil Rays.
“We don’t look like we’re that alive, yet,” said Mussina, who hasn’t slept well since making the 11,500-km trip last week from Tampa, Fla. “We need a little life, and we just didn’t have it.”
At the sushi stands and sake bars in the Tokyo Dome, most of the talk was about baseball’s most famous club. Yet after circling halfway around the globe, all those all-stars fell flat against one of baseball’s least-known teams.
“I’m sure that there are a lot of people driving to work right now saying, ‘Who are those guys?’” Devil Rays owner Vince Naimoli said.
In the second opener played by major league teams in Japan, Mussina looked as if he would have rather been back home.
Trying to become the 100th pitcher with 200 wins, he gave up a broken-bat, two-run single to Toby Hall in the fourth, then let Cruz tie it at 3-3 in the sixth with his homer.
Martinez, Julio Lugo, and Toby Hall followed with consecutive doubles for a 5-3 lead that chased Mussina, who took the loss.
Canadian reliever Paul Quantrill got three outs on three pitches to get out of the inning, but left after his fourth pitch when Rodriguez banged into his right knee trying to field Rocco Baldelli’s bunt single leading off the seventh.
Quantrill later told manager Joe Torre he should be OK, but the Yankees won’t know for sure until tomorrow.
Felix Heredia let the game spin away, making a wild pick-off for a two-base error before his first pitch, then allowing a single to Aubrey Huff and a two-run homer to Martinez—playing his first game for his hometown team.
“Obviously, to beat the Yankees is great,” said Martinez, who helped the Yankees win four World Series titles from 1996-2000. “The fans here love them, but we made them cheer for us, too.”
Victor Zambrano got the win for the Devil Rays, who have finished last in all six seasons they’ve been in the majors. He allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.