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Pregame: Congratulations to Major League Baseball for allowing the Yankees to open at home. From 1996 to 2006, the Yankees did that all of two times -- 2001 vs. Kansas City and 2005 vs. Boston. They've opened outside the United States (in Toronto in 2003 and in Tokyo in 2004) just as many times. To make matters worse, the schedule makers have sent the Yankees to the West Coast in 1997 (Seattle), 1998 (Anaheim), 1999 (Oakland), 2000 (Anaheim again) and 2006 (Oakland). Weather obviously plays a role, but today's doesn't look like it will be worse than the 1999 home opener against the Tigers, when they played through a low-level monsoon.

The Yankees haven't lost a home opener since 1997. With Carl Pavano starting against Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir, that streak could end today. But more on that later.

Although a pregame version of Baseball Tonight is on ESPN, the game will probably be blacked out in New York to force everyone to watch it on YES. ESPN's intro is still a little dated -- it opens with Randy Johnson throwing a pitch in a Yankees uniform. It didn't appear to include any other active players in an old uniform, either.

John Kruk needed only about three minutes -- maybe two on camera -- to say something outlandish. He criticized people for feeling that the Yankees' season was over since they had to start Carl Pavano on Opening Day. Leaving aside that not too many people have expressed such pessimism, Kruk went on to say, "Not so fast. ... Two years ago people were talking about him and a Cy Young." Who?

Rays GM Andrew Friedman looks like he's about 18, but he seems to have a level head on his shoulders. The Rays lost more than 100 games last season, but they have the best farm system in baseball, and Friedman hasn't done anything to mess that up so far. No matter what he looks like or how well his team's development is doing, he's a good change of pace instead of Kruk on camera.

The season hasn't started and ESPN is already going crazy about the Alex Rodriguez opt-out clause. Buster Olney says Rodriguez will exercise it no matter what. He also said the Yankees might call on Ross Ohlendorf to help them out this season. The media love all stories A-Rod, but they need to stay out of this one. After the writers' best efforts, the Yankees didn't get pressured into trading him in the offseason. Yankees fans should hope the press doesn't pressure Rodriguez into leaving. That's too deep a topic to get into here, but let it be said that Rodriguez is underappreciated.

Derek Jeter gives great TV interviews. He says the right thing -- except when talking about Rodriguez -- and he knows to "engage the camera" as well as the interviewer. He also gave Kim Jones a hard time -- in a friendly way -- about what she meant by the phrase "grizzled veteran."

Bob Sheppard is old. But hearing his voice never gets old. Call it the "voice of God" or any other name, but hearing him call out Yankees names and numbers -- twice -- still feels great.

Johnny Damon insisted on Joe Torre knowing a complicated handshake during the lineup introductions. Few things beat watching Torre clap his chest several times in unison with Damon. Alex Rodriguez received almost all cheers from the Yankee Stadium crowd. He'll at least get the benefit of the doubt until he makes his first out or two.

The game is blacked out on ESPN in New York. YES presents its viewers with Kenny Singleton, Michael Kay and Joe Girardi. YES comes back from commercial to show the late Cory Lidle's wife, Melanie, throw out the first pitch on tape. After that somber note, baseball is now just moments away.

Top first: Pavano gives up a single on a 1-1 pitch to Carl Crawford, who then predictably steals second. Pavano hasn't pitched since June 27, 2005, but he was thrust into the Opening Day role because Chien-Ming Wang got hurt and the Yankees didn't want to shuffle their rotation or force someone to pitch on short rest.

Not a great start for Rodriguez in the field. After Pavano gets Ben Zobrist to strike out and Rocco Baldelli to fly out to left, Rodriguez runs everywhere but under a Ty Wigginton popup and lets it fall in foul territory. Rodriguez's offense is underappreciated, but his defense is downright concerning. Pavano recovers two pitches later to get out of the inning. Nothing too bad there.

Bottom first: YES has decided to add animation of players in its lower-third graphics with the basic four stats (average, homers, RBIs, on-base percentage). Maybe they'll include Yankees wearing gray uniforms during road games.

Speaking of uniforms, is there a bigger difference between quality of uniforms than the one between the Yankees home pinstrips and the Rays' road grays? Unless you like green, you probably don't like Tampa Bay's outfit. They've already changed their Web site to stress the blue and not the green. That would be a good change for the uniforms if they made it.

Rodriguez comes up after singles by Damon and Bobby Abreu sandwich a flyout by Jeter. Rays starer Scott Kazmir strikes him out out on a pitch low and away, and Rodriguez gets booed for the second time. Some Yankees fans don't deserve him. On the double steal the runners move up.

Kazmir is a good-and-bad matchup for the Yankees. On the one hand, he walks plenty of people, which never helps against the selective lineup the Yanks trotted out. On the other hand, he dominates lefties, and the Yankees have plenty of them.

One of those, Jason Giambi, lines a two-run single to center field after working the count to 3-1. 2-0 Yankees. Kazmir's pitch keeps going up, and this is the way the Yankees should work pitchers all year. And then we walks Hideki Matsui. Jorge Posada pops out to end the inning, but the Yankees got two and made Kazmir throw 35 pitches. Nothing bad there, either.

Top second: "Delmon goes for the first pitch?" asks friend Adam. "I'd never believe it." That's Delmon Young, someone not known for his self-control with the bat -- even leaving out when he threw one at a Minor League umpire. He flies out to center. Then Jeter makes a horrendous throw to first on a grounder by Akinori Iwamura, who takes second when the ball goes into the stands. Kay starts to blame first baseman Josh Phelps but then realizes that a vacuum cleaner couldn't have come up with that throw. The left side of the infield has produced two errors in two innings. That doesn't come as a surprise. Jeter's not a Gold Glove-quality infielder despite his recent monopoly on the award, and Rodriguez has struggled plenty after being a great shortstop.

Pavano walks Elijah Dukes on a full count and then gives up a single past a diving Jeter into center field. Now it's 2-1 Yankees. The folks at Baseball Prospectus love to joke about how often announcers will say "past a diving Jeter" during a game. That's No. 1. Pavano gets another fly out to end the inning without further damage.

Bottom second: At the break, a Yankees tickets commercial aired. The new slogan is "Where players become legends." How does that compare to "Pride. Power. Pinstripes?" Or "Looking back. Looking forward?" Those ads will be intolerable by May.

Robinson Cano strikes out on three pitches, looking at a filthy one on for the punchout. That's the Scott Kazmir that dominated for much of last season. The Kazmir of the first inning reappears with a walk to Phelps. Torre deserves kudos one more time for taking him over sentimental -- and opposing pitchers' -- favorite Andy Phillips. Derek Jeter gets hit by a pitch, and then Bobby Abreu grounds out to Iwamura. Kazmir has 52 pitches.

Top third: Bobby Murcer shows up in the booth. He had a brain tumor removed in the offsesaon, and fans can be happy to hear his voice and see him on the telecast and hearing his Oklahoma-accented voice, especially when he started comparing his bare head to Britney Spears' and Jack Nicholson's. Pavano works a 1-2-3 inning through the heart of the Rays order, and more Murcer is promised after the break.

Bottom third: YES has now missed two emotional moments. Besides the Lidle family and the ceremonial first pitch, a video tribute to Murcer aired while ads were playing. The Yankees even came to the top step of the dugout to salute him.

Kazmir cruises through a 1-2-3 of his own. Since the first, he's looked much better, and that's not a good sign for the Yankees.

Top fourth: Pavano could have walked two batters in this inning, but instead he ends up walking one and getting a double play to boot. The always patient Young struck out by stretching the zone, and after the walk to Iwamura, former Yankees farmhand Dioner Navarro hit into a double play.

Bottom fourth: If you use your SAP button on your televisor, you can get the Yankees in Spanish. But the team still can't get its Spanish-speaking players to do the commercials promoting that without obviously reading off cue cards. Posada did this one after Bernie Williams just missed a nomination for a Sports Emmy for the last one.

When the game resumes, Posada hits one into the bleachers in right. 3-1 Yankees. How many times do you see someone hit a home run in the half-inning after he does an ad promoting a second-language broadcast? That's also good for radio man John Sterling, who gets to get in his first "it is high, it is far, it is GONE!" call and his first "Jorgie juiced one!"

Yankees reveal the answer the trivia question. Who was the starting third baseman on Opening Day in 1969? Answer: Bobby Murcer. That's not as good as the one asked by the Rays broadcast, again supplied from friend Adam. How many bathrooms did Yankee Stadium have when it opened in 1923? Answer: 16 -- eight men's and eight women's.

Top fifth: Just as Kay finishes telling the audience how well Pavano has been doing, the pitcher gives up a center-field bomb to Dukes (3-2 Rays) and a hard single to B.J. Upton, who steals second. Crawford then singles to right (tie game) and should have been thrown out when Phelps cuts off Abreu's throw from right. But the first baseman throws wildly into center field, giving Crawford second. Zobrist lets a sacrifice bunt hit him in fair territory for the first out, but Baldelli follows with an RBI single to left, and Tampa Bay has its first lead.

After that, Torre has seen enough, as Kay is prone to say. Pavano gets a mixed reaction from the crowd, and rightfully so. His defense didn't help him, but he didn't help himself by only striking out two batters and losing it by the fifth inning.

Brian Bruney -- probably a slimmer version than last sesaon -- strikes out Ty Wigginton, but allows another run charged to Pavano before Young, who had just singled, is caught stealing to end the inning. Pavano finishes having allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings, and the Rays lead, 5-3.

Bottom fifth: The inning starts with a weak Rodriguez flyout to right and continues with a weak Giambi groundout to Kazmir. The best thing to happen since Posada's homer is the Geico gecko commercial that aired after the top of the inning. Matsui looks bad and strikes out swinging.

Top sixth: Sean Henn takes over on the mound, but more disturbing is Melky Cabrera's appearance in center field. Kay says Damon may be hurt, and of course no one knows anything. Damon's played through pain before, but the Yankees will hope it's nothing serious.

The umpires haven't been brought up so far, a development that everyone would say is good because they are blending in. This crew doesn't have the best group of names. Gary Darling and Jerry Meals have nothing on Chuck Merriweather or Tim Tschida.

Iwamura slaps a single to left. Singleton compares him to Ichiro, but the Rays third baseman's probably not as good. Scott Proctor gets up in the bullpen as he readies to pitch in all 162 games this season. Navarro obliges Henn by grounding into his second double play. Yankee Stadium has no energy, probably sapped by the scoreboard and the energy. Henn ends the inning with a fly out to right from Dukes.

Bottom sixth: Kazmir comes out for another inning of work despite having thrown 94 pitches. Rays skipper Joe Maddon probably has him on a short leash.

Kay tells us Damon left with cramps in his hamstrings. Sounds like the situation could be a lot worse. Then Kay changes it to calves. Still sounds like it could be worse.

Derek Jeter -- Captain Clutch from last year's home opener -- ties the game with a two-run single. The Yankees could have had more, but Cabrera fell down trying to advance to third on an Abreu flyout to center. Jeter comes up in plenty of big spots and he gets plenty of big hits. Does that make him clutch? Not necessarily. But even sabermetric-minded Yankees fans still like it when he acts clutch.

Top seventh: Luis Vizcaino works a 1-2-3 inning. This guy could really help out the Yankees bullpen after being acquired from the Diamondbacks. The Yankees bullpen could be their biggest strength this year, and it has performed well so far.

Bottom seventh: Rodriguez finally catches a break by reaching on an error. He makes his own break by stealing second before scoring on a Giambi single, and the Yankees lead, 6-5. We'll see how good this bullpen is.

Top eighth: Looks pretty good. Kyle Farnsworth goes through the eighth without a hitch, and the Yankees now have pitched 3 1/3 innings in relief without allowing a run. They did allow one of Pavano's inherited runners to score, but that's not their fault.

Bottom eighth: Insurance. With a 6-5 lead, the Yankees tack on. Bobby Abreu singles home Doug Mientkiewicz, whom Torre used earlier in the game to hit for Phelps. Rodriguez then hits a long home run -- Sterling: "An AAAA bomb, for AAAA-Rod -- to put the game out of reach. Now the fans give him a standing ovation and a curtain call. He should hope this season goes like Carlos Beltran's did last year. Brief boos followed by acceptance.

Top ninth: Mariano Rivera picks up where he left off from his stellar spring and closes the door. One win down, and the Yankees have a blueprint for how they're going to win plenty of games this year. Wear out a starter, get a serviceable but not great outing out of their own pitcher, get solid relief work and attack another team's middle relief. One game in a baseball season means little, but plenty of others will look just like this one.