As soon as we walked over the footbridge that connects the parking lot to the grounds of Legends Field, I relaxed. Maybe it was because we had been rushing to the game, a late start from the house, a traffic-filled drive, worry over whether we'd be able to sell the extra tickets so close to game time... we arrived at 1:30 pm exactly, sold the tickets (at face value, of course) within 30 seconds of getting out of the car, and could hear the National Anthem as we walked across the parking lot. So, sure, it was time to relax. But I had another comforting feeling--the same feeling I have when we go to Yankee Stadium. The feeling of coming home.

We were late for a good reason. That morning my family celebrated Christmas. Since we hadn't been able to all be together in December, our plan was to exchange gifts at our annual rendezvous for Spring Training. I made stockings for every member of the family -- blue and white pinstriped stockings, of course -- and bought MLB videos for everyone. The 1977 World Series Video for my Dad, Superstar Shortstops for my Mom, 1978 World Series for sister-in-law-to-be Heather, and The All Century Team for my brother Julian. And Sharpies for everyone, just in case. Then we had a leisurely brunch, enjoying our time together in my parents' house.

Then we realized, oh crap, it's almost 12:30, and we're not dressed yet. We threw on our Yankees colors, grabbed our scorecards, and jumped in the car.

It was spring break time in the Tampa area, gasoline prices spiked, and midday Saturday the roads were packed. So it was a tension-filled creep from the Gulf Coast to Legends Field. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

When walking over the bridge, we could hear cheers. Lots of people standing on the bridge were trying to watch the game, no longer hopeful for tickets. "Who's pitching?" I asked. People shrugged. "He's number sixty one," one said. "Oh, that's Ted Lilly," I replied. There was another cheer. Two outs already?

By the time we made it all the way around to our seats on the first base side, Lilly had retired the side, and Alfonso Soriano had led off the Yankee first with a walk. The Legends Field crowd knew how rare it was to see Soriano walk and gave him quite a cheer. Just as we were sitting down, Derek Jeter hit the first pitch he saw into left center and Soriano went to third. Then came Jason Giambi.

Have I told you yet how happy I am to see Giambi in pinstripes? I was sad to see Tino go. I was one of those who thought the right answer was to keep Tino an extra year, the way they kept Joe Girardi an extra year, to mentor the young player. But Jason Giambi was probably my favorite player in the American League who was a non-Yankee. I was mad about the Home Run Derby--I thought he was robbed. We saw the A's play in Anaheim while on a business trip, and although I rooted for the hometown Angels, I really wanted to see Jason hit a home run, too. When the Angels had a large lead, in the late innings, he obliged! And there was that game in Oakland, where Mike Mussina pitched a two-hitter (oops, two home runs to other members of the A's), Clay Bellinger hit a two run homer, and Mike Stanton was on the mound in the ninth. With two outs he faced Giambi and took the count full. Then he threw a curve ball, and Giambi hit it into the right field seats for the game winner. Ouch! The Yankee fan in me was burned, but the baseball fan in me was like, holy schlomoley, that guy is fantastic!

Yes, I liked Jason Giambi a lot. And now that the pain of losing Tino is fading, I find myself getting more and more excited about Jason being a Yankee. He came to the plate with men on the corner and no one out. He hadn't hit a home run since his first exhibition game at Legends, where he hit two in one day (unless you count all those bombs he was hitting in batting practice, even that first day he picked up a bat after taking the winter off, got into the cage, and planted seven or more balls over the wall...). I thought to myself, do it here? do it now? He'd done it when I thought he would in Anaheim, and he did it when I thought he would in Oakland. Today? Now?

Crack. Man, he hits the ball hard. This one sailed far, but not quite far enough, bouncing on the warning track and THEN over the wall. A ground rule double, scoring Soriano and moving Jeter to third. Jorge Posada then hit a sac fly that plated Jeter and moved Jason to third. He scored when Robin Ventura grounded to the right side, 3-0 Yanks in yet another first inning rally!

After that, the game was mostly about Ted Lilly, though Juan Rivera had a double and homer, and Gerald Williams beat out an infield hit and had a home run of his own. Could Gerald be coming around to being a productive player again? Hope so...

Lilly has pitched some of the most excruciating ballgames I have ever seen. Remember his debut last year against Boston? Every inning was an adventure, a nail-biter, where he struck out ten men but really struggled also. Then there was that start at Shea Stadium, Father's Day, where again every inning he would pitch himself into trouble with walks, wild pitches, etc... and then pitchout of it. He left that game with the lead and the possibility of a Yankee three game sweep at Shea, but Mike Piazza blasted a game winning homer off Carlos Almanzar ... that was the game that convinced Brian Cashman to remake the bullpen mid-season. Within days, Almanzar was gone, Wohlers and Witasick were in. But I digress. The point is, Lilly is on the verge of being quite good, if he can get over the times when he is quite bad--usually within the same game, even the same inning.

This day, he had a quick one-two-three first inning, quick one-two-three second inning ending with a strikeout. Third inning began with a strikeout, but then he walked SS John McDonald (oh, did I mention the opponent that day was the no-longer quite a fearsome Cleveland Indians?). Still, C Josh Bard grounded into a fielder's choice, and Milton Bradley (late of the Expos), grounded right back to Lilly to end the inning. After three, Lilly had not given up a hit.

In the fourth he walked the leadoff man (Mike Lansing, late of the dysfunctional Red Sox), and we thought: uh oh. Ellis Burks then grounded to second and Soriano booted it, two men on no out. Then a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. Argh, Lilly! Now the still-dangerous Jim Thome came to the plate. Time for Lilly to bear down and do his thing. Thome could easily tie the game with one swing. Lilly did one of his patented reversals, and struck Thome out looking. Then he got Will Cordero to pop up, and the runners had to hold. Then the evil Ted Lilly came bacK Russell Branyan came to the plate and was hit by pitch. Bases loaded, two out. RF Karim Garcia came to the plate.

This time Lilly's bacon was saved by a great defensive play and perhaps a few millimeters of ball movement. Garcia hit the ball hard, almost hard enough to be a grand slam. But Marcus Thames, that sudden blue-chip outfielder who, along with Juan Rivera, tore up the Grapefruit League (they both had lots of extra playing time when Ruben Rivera was banished from Yankee-dom for being a no-good thief, Rondell White went down with a rib cage pull, and Bernie Williams was hobbled with a couple of leg strains), ran down the ball on the warning track, reached out and made a back handed grab while still at a full run and then hit the wall. Phew! End of inning. Lilly added another 1-2-3 in the fifth, and left the game without giving up a hit, nor a run. Not too shabby.

Cleveland did manage to scratch out one run against Adrian "El Duquecito" Hernandez, but so what. Jay Tessmer pitched two innings, striking out three, inducing two pop ups and erasing the one baserunner (John MacDonald singled) on a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play. Then Mike Stanton came in and was his reliable self.

Perhaps the only other item of note was that I had my first sip of beer of the baseball season in the 7th inning. Yeah, I'm a cheap date, I can't even drink a whole beer myself, so I had a couple of swallows of my mom's. The women in the New England Women's Baseball League laugh at me when I ask who'll split one with me after games. But I guess there's something that just works about beer and baseball.

Tomorrow, we'll have the first peanuts eaten out of the shell as we return to Legends Field to face the Blue Jays.