Baseball season is here. That fact alone might inspire me to feel that all is right with the world. But last night's pasting of the Boston Red Sox at the hand of the Yankees reinforces the feeling that the although pigs flew, hell froze over, and other unlikely events took place last season, this season the world has returned to its regular orbit. The status quo has returned for at least one day.

Two days, actually, because the home opener at Yankee Stadium is followed by an off day. Today Yankees fans get to bask in the glow of the 9-2 win, while the rest of the league gets going. Last night's home opener at Yankee Stadium was also MLB's season opener, and it sure beat Tokyo as a setting. MLB upped the ante on what is already a holiday in New York by making the Red Sox the opponent (instead recent sacrificial lambs like the Royals). ESPN then jumped on board, salivating at the chance to televise "game eight"--the rematch of last year's ALCS opponents.

Unlike most Red Sox-Yankees matchups in the Bronxx, Sox fans were scarce. Opening Day is a hot ticket, the crowd dominated by season ticket holders, and there were no bus tour groups of red-clad fans taking up sections of the upper deck. For the most part, the Sox fans who braved the scalpers and heightened level of hostility from the New York crowd traveled in groups of twos or threes, often with a friend or two in Yankees' gear. They were among the crowd who got to see the newest creations of the city's underground t-shirt shops. The old "Boston Sucks" shirts, which have been around in one form or another since the 1970s, have been amended by the addition of one small word between the other two--"still"--and the old "1918" shirts have been replaced by ones that read "The Curse of 1918 is gone, but the Curse of 2090 begins now."

I thought about that shirt when a comebacker went right between John Halama's wickets in the 8th inning, allowing the Yankees to load the bases. I turned to the guy next to me and said "the curse is back." But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Before the game comes the pre-game ceremony, in which Bob Sheppard reads out the complete rosters of both teams, including the coaches, non-starters, and starting lineups. As their names are called, each man trots out to the foul line, being booed or cheered, depending. As you can guess, the Red Sox came out to an unceasing hail of boos, the loudest of all being reserved for David Wells. Or maybe that was because some Yankees fans, who still have a soft spot for Well, were shouting "Boooooo-mer"? Boomer has a reputation as a big game pitcher, and so Sox fans and Yankees fans alike were expecting him to be a tough cookie. But maybe the Yankees know him too well, or maybe all those boos nagged at Wells a bit, since he was not what one would call lights out.

Neither was Randy Johnson. His end results look pretty good, one run, 6 strikeouts, but he went 2-0 on many batters and appeared to be laboring with his control throughout the game, and lasted only six innings. Nonetheless, if that's what Johnson is like when he struggles, he'll do absolutely fine as a Yankee. His first inning was fairly strong, getting Damon on a ground out, and Edgar Renteria and Manny looking at called third strikes. But in the second he gave up a leadoff double to Yankee-killer David Ortiz, and then nearly gave up a home run to Kevin Millar. From where I was sitting in the upper deck, I looked right down the third base line and as the ball went up it had home run written all over it. But I could also see Matsui racing hard as if he had the ball lined up. He leaped to put his glove into the stands and came back out with the ball safe inside it. But former-Met Jay Payton cashed in Ortiz with a single and Bill Mueller walked. Johnson got out of the inning only giving up the one run, but he did not look dominant.

The only new feature at Yankee Stadium this year that I noticed was a new pitch type/radar speed board. They took the top third or so of the old monochrome matrix board in center and have made it color, and after each pitch it dutifully reports the speed, type of pitch, and the pitch count on the current pticher. Unfortunately, whoever is operating the board needs some lessons in recognizing pitches, as when Wells threw a 69 mph breaking ball, the board read "fastball," and similar gaffes. The one piece of information I wished it gave, but it didn't, was the ball/strike ratio. It seemed to me that Johnson was throwing more out of the zone than normal, yet somehow he would still come back to retire guys after being down in the count.

Wells was the opposite. He is a strike-throwing machine--always has been--which meant that he would often get 0-2 on a batter before they would get a hit, or in Jason Giambi's case, get hit... twice.

I was particularly interested in how the crowd would treat Giambi, after the offseason controversy about his leaked grand jury testimony on steroid use, his public apology, and the like. Well, the three biggest cheers of the introductions were for #23: Don Mattingly, #24, Tino Martinez, and #25 Jason Giambi. Giambi received a standing ovation in his first at bat, when he came up in the second with one on and one out. He stroked a ball through the infield to right, sending Matsui to third. Bernie Williams cashed the run in with a sac fly, tying the game at 1-1.

In the top of the third, Boston hoped to capitalize on a misplay by Giambi on a hot shot at first. I blinked as it happened but I think Gi dove for a ball but it bounced off his glove, and then he boxed it around while speedy Johnny Damon reached. At first the play was ruled a hit, but later changed to an error. No matter though, as on the next play, A-rod made a great pick at third to start a 5-4-3 double play. Manny flew to center and that was that.

Wells wasn't so lucky. In the bottom of the inning, Jeter led offf with a double. A-rod hit a ball long and deep but just foul down the left field line, and ended up with a strike out for his trouble. But Sheff doubled, bringing in Jeter, and scored two batters later when Matsui stroked a single, his second off the lefty Wells. Next came Posada, who smoked a ball to short. Renteria made a play, or failed to, similar to Giambi's, which this time was scored an error, and later changed to a hit, putting two men on. Then came Giambi, who took a Wells pitch off the arm to load the bases. Newly acquired Blaine Neal began to warm up for the Sox. Bernie now stood in, and did his usual bit of asking for time any time the pitcher stood staring longer than he liked. Perhaps it was one of those times, when Bernie raised his hand and wasn't granted time, or perhaps Wells simply had a brian cramp, but he then balked in a run. Bernie ended up with a strike out, but three men had crossed the plate.

Now 4-1 Yanks, it was up to Johnson to hold them. He caught Ortiz looking this time, got Millar to pop up, and got Varitek to hit the ball on the ground. But Tek's ball hugged the third base line, just fair, and then was touched by a fan, giving him a ground rule double. Payton grounded out and Tek was stranded.

Wells came out to for the fourth, gave up a singles to Womack and A-rod, but Jeter hit a soft fly to right, Sheff lined right to short, and Sierra grounded into a force play so nothing came of it for the Yankees. Johnson started the top of the fifth, but with one out gave up a double to Mark Bellhorn. he came back to strike out Damon, and then was helped by a stellar play Jeter made on a hard hit ball from Renteria, which Giambi made an equally nice play on at first to make up for Jeter's rushed throw. Now it was Wells coming out for the fifth and this time he struck out Matsui. But Posada doubled, and Giambi came up for his third plate appearance of the night. Deja vu--Wells again hit him on the arm and again Giambi jogged down to first as if unaffected. As I glanced at my scorecard to see the Yankees had threatened in every inning, I said to a friend who was with me, "this feels like the old Yankees." By which I mean the O'Neill-Brosius-Knoblauch Yankees. It just felt like old times.

Wells then did something he almost never does: walked a man. Bernie worked a walk to load the bases, and that was it for Wells. Final line: four and a third, ten hits, 4 Ks, 1 walk, and only 4 runs (all earned), because Mike Myers then came on and induced Womack to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Johnson went one more inning. Manny: caught looking. Ortiz: grounded to short. Millar: walked. Varitek... would have been out, maybe, as he shattered his bat into several pieces, but luck would have the soft liner he ended up with going just above the leap of Jason Giambi. Payton grounded into a force to end the inning though, and Johnson's night. It was not the dominating stuff Johnson showed in his final start of the spring, but it was good enough to keep the World Champs contained for six decent innings.

The afore-mentioned Blaine Neal came out for the bottom of the sixth. Poor kid. Opening Day, Yankee Stadium, the crowd baying like wolves for blood... actually by that time the crowd was relatively quiet. A sense of calm was coming over Yankees fans as the lead continued to grow. Neal walked Jeter, who stole second when the righty wasn't paying attention. Jeter scored on A-rod's next hit into center, which Damon boxed around for an error as Alex took second. A-rod then moved to third, tagging up on Sheff's fly ball to Manny Ramirez and making it easily. That was it for Neal, and on came veteran Alan Embree to face Ruben Sierra. Sierra moved around to the right side of the plate and hammered the first pitch he saw down the line in left for a double, scoring Rodriguez. Embree also walked Jorge, but there was no more scoring. The only other thing of note in the inning is that when Giambi flew out to end the inning, it was to left field, a sinking liner the opposite way that Manny grabbed.

It was around this time that the rain started to fall again. Just a light drizzle, but we were thankful to be under the roof in the upper deck. But it was also at this point that Torre pulled Giambi to put Tino at first base. As Tino took the field to throw the customary practice grounders to his infielders while the pitcher threw his warmups, the crowd began to chant "Ti-no! Ti-no!" Then he got another huge ovation when his name was announced. And many die-hard fans stayed in the rain because they hoped to get a chance to see him come to bat. If only the Yankees could turn the lineup over.

They could. From that point, the Red Sox still needed three more pitchers to get through the game, and one of them, Matt Mantei, gave up a two-run homer to Matsui. When he walked both Tino, to thunderous applause, and Bernie (who then left for pinch runner Bubba Crosby), the Sox replaced him with John Halama. At this point it was already 8-1, and every starter in the Yankee lineup had a hit except Bernie (who had the sac RBI and 2 BBs). Halama faced Womack, who was 2-for-4 with a stolen base on the night. He improved to 3-for-5 with an infield hit, continuing his hot hitting from the spring, and that loaded the bases for Jeter.

Jeter hit a comebacker to Halama that bounded right between the pitchers legs, scoring Tino with the extra-extra-extra insurance run in bizarre fashion. You can see why my first thought was: the curse is back. When these two teams play, crazy things happen. Halama escaped the inning though when A-rod hit a shot to third that Mueller made a brilliant play on. All nine men had batted in the inning.

Now if only Tom Gordon could slam the door. If only. There seemed to be a theme of pitchers struggling tonight and Gordon was no exception, walking the leadoff man on five pitches, and then giving up a single to put men on the corners, and then a sac fly to bring Millar in from third. Tek took second on defensive indifference. But Mueller flew to right and then Bellhorn grounded out to seal the 9-2 Yankees victory.

Today in Boston, the callers to sports talk radio shows are split. There are those who are, sensibly, trying to take the approach of "it was only one game, just wait til we get Schill back," and so on. There are others who are more convinced than ever that last year's triumph was some sort of a dream, and that it's back to reality now. How long these feelings last will depend on what happens Tuesday afternoon, when the hostilities are renewed. Michael Holley, a new co-host on Boston's WEEI pointed out that if the Sox end up taking two out of three, the pendulum will swing to the other extreme, and you'll have fans ordering their World Series rings already. So be it. This is why we play the games, to find out what will happen. Stay tuned.