Off we go . . .

• Xavier Nady has been formally diagnosed with a partially torn elbow ligament:

The Yankees feared originally Nady could be lost for the season with a completely torn ligament, but a review of multiple X-rays revealed that the ligament is only partially torn. He will likely need to rehab the injury for a period of weeks, perhaps a month.

• Chien-Ming Wang will be putting himself back together down in Tampa:

Chien-Ming Wang will pitch an extended spring training game Thursday in Tampa, a move the Yankees hope will finally give them some answers as to what is troubling their former ace.

Wang, who will remain on the Yankees active roster, is scheduled to throw 100 pitches in front of Yankees Tampa-based officials Mark Newman and Nardi Contreras.

This way, Joe Girardi explained, Wang can attempt to figure out what’s wrong pitching in game conditions as opposed to more bullpen sessions. Part of the problem has been that Wang has looked good in the bullpen between starts and before games, but has struggled in games.

• Ken Belson of the Times has an article on the troubles the metro NY teams are having selling their premium seats:

. . . the Mets and the Yankees face a public relations nightmare and possibly millions of dollars in lost revenue after failing to sell about 5,000 tickets — including some of the priciest seats — to each of their first few games after last week’s openers.

The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession. Whatever the reason, the teams are scrambling to comb over their $295- to $2,625-a-seat bald spots.

“I’m sure they’re thinking, ‘It’s just April,’ ” Jon Greenberg, executive editor of the Team Marketing Report, said of the lack of sellouts. “But it’s lost revenue they anticipated getting. This is the worst possible time to debut a stadium.”

But the slow start in New York is striking considering how much the teams here spent to build and promote their parks. Like airlines that break even on economy tickets and rely on first-class travelers to turn a profit, the teams need to sell their most exclusive seats to help repay the hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-free bonds they issued to finance their new parks.

The unfilled seats in New York are even more glaring compared with how robust sales have been for previous stadium openings. The Baltimore Orioles sold out 67 of their 80 home dates in 1992, when Camden Yards opened. The Cleveland Indians sold out 36 games in the strike-shortened season in 1994, and were filled to capacity 455 consecutive games from 1995 to 2001.

[My take: Actually, this is just the right time to open a new stadium, as those who might not spend disposable income on a ballgame will want to see the new facility . . . unless your average ticket price is $72 . . . and you have a huge restaurant in center field that blocks the view of more than 1,000 fans . . . and your Stadium rules and regulations feel like they were written by the Gestapo.]

• Baseball America has an update on prospect Andrew Brackman:

After a rough start against Rome on Opening Day—which included six runs on five hits in five innings—Brackman’s peripherals have all been trending in the right direction. His walks have dipped from three to two to zero, while his strikeouts have climbed from five on April 9 to eight last night in a strong start at Savannah.

“Last night he had big-time command of the breaking ball,” (Brackman’s manager Torre) Tyson said. “When you have that 60 breaking ball (on the 20-80 scouting scale) to go along with 95 (mph velocity), it’s almost unhittable because you have to cheat to get to the fastball.

Brackman has made strides in repeating his delivery, Tyson said, but it will continue to be an issue because of his immense size. “He’s always trying to tinker a little bit with his delivery, week in and week out.”

Tyson reported that the righthander’s stuff was crisp, with his velocities ranging form 92-95 on the fastball, 74-78 on the curve and 84-88 on the changeup—much as they did last fall in the HWB. The skipper noted something else, too. Brackman found success in cutting the ball, giving him a quality hard pitch with running action that complements his tailing two-seamer.

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Oakland Athletics

2008 Record: 75-86 (.466)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 76-85 (.472)

Manager: Billy Beane
General Manager: Bob Geren

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (93/93)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Jason Giambi replaces Daric Barton (minors)
• Matt Holliday replaces Emil Brown and Frank Thomas
• Orlando Cabrera replaces Jack Hannahan (minors)
• Eric Chavez replaces as much of Bobby Crosby as his body will allow
• Travis Buck inherits Carlos Gonzalez’s playing time
• Nomar Garciaparra replaces Donnie Murphy, Cliff Pennington (minors), and Eric Patterson (minors)
• Landon Powell replaces Rob Bowen
• Trevor Cahill replaces Joe Blanton and Rich Harden
• Brett Anderson replaces Greg Smith
• Dallas Braden inherits the starts of Sean Gallagher (bullpen) and Gio Gonzalez (minors)
• Josh Outman is filling in for Justin Duchscherer (DL)
• Russ Springer replaces Huston Street
• Michael Wuertz replaces Chad Gaudin
• Drew Bailey replaces Jerry Blevins (minors) and Andrew Brown
• Sean Gallagher replaces Keith Foulke and Dan Meyer
• Dan Giese is filling in for Joey Devine (DL)

25-man Roster:
1B – Jason Giambi (L)
2B – Mark Elllis (R)
SS – Orlando Cabrera (R)
3B – Eric Chavez (L)
C – Kurt Suzuki (R)
RF – Travis Buck (L)
CF – Ryan Sweeney (L)
LF – Matt Holliday (R)
DH – Jack Cust (L)

Bench:

R – Nomar Garciaparra (IF)
R – Bobby Crosby (IF)
R – Rajai Davis (OF)
S – Landon Powell (C)

Rotation:

L – Dallas Braden
L – Dana Eveland
L – Brett Anderson
L – Josh Outman
R – Trevor Cahill

Bullpen:

R – Brad Ziegler
R – Russ Springer
R – Santiago Casilla
R – Michael Wuertz
R – Drew Bailey
R – Sean Gallagher
R – Dan Giese

15-day DL: RHP – Justin Duchscherer (elbow surgery); OF – Ben Copeland (shoulder sprain)
60-day DL: RHP – Joey Devine (elbow)

Typical Lineup:

L – Ryan Sweeney (CF)
R – Orlando Cabrera (SS)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
R – Matt Holliday (LF)
L – Jack Cust (DH)
L – Eric Chavez (3B)
R – Kurt Suzuki (C)
L – Travis Buck (RF)
R – Mark Ellis (2B)

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• Given the gloomy weather of late, today’s news is powered by some impromptu rain delay entertainment:

• Is the new Yankee Stadium the old Coors Field?:

Twenty (homers) were hit in the first four games alone as New York and Cleveland split the opening series that ended Sunday. That’s easily the high for the first four games at a major league park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, topping the 18 when Cincinnati started the 2003 season at Great American Ball Park.

“There are a couple ballparks out there that the ball just travels well. This might be one of them,” New York’s Mark Teixeira, who hit two of those home runs, said after Monday night’s game against Oakland was rained out.

Fourteen of the home runs have been hit to right field, raising concern that there might be a wind tunnel in the $1.5 billion ballpark, which has wide, open concourses, as opposed to the narrow hallways in the original Yankee Stadium on the south side of 161st Street, which remains standing.

• In a similar vein, our man Alex Belth points us to this analysis:

Although the field dimensions of the new stadium are exactly that of the old stadium, the shell of the new stadium is shaped differently.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists also estimate that the angle of the seating in the new stadium could have an effect on wind speed across the field.

. . . The new Yankee stadium’s tiers are less stacked, making a less sharp slope from the top of the stadium to the field. This shape could enable winds to blow across the field with less restriction. In addition, the slope of the seating would also lead to a “downslope” effect in the field which, depending on wind direction, would tend to cause air to lift up in the right field. Fly balls going into right field during a gusty west wind would be given more of a lift thus carrying the ball farther out into right field.

If the stadium seating tier shape is indeed the issue, games will only be affected during times with the winds are from a westerly direction and above 10 mph. This typically occurs during the spring and the middle to late fall. The calmer weather during the summer should lead to a smaller number of home runs. In the meantime, the home run derby may continue.

[My take: The “calmer” weather in the summer is also when the temperatures increase, which seems to correlate with longer distances on flyballs.  So, there might NOT be a respite from the launching pad effect.]

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Today’s news is powered by “The Bangin’ Pots Man (Freddy Sez)” at the old Yankee Stadium:

• Chien-Ming Wang isn’t sure what’s wrong with his pitches:

The soft-spoken 29-year-old from Taiwan said he has compared video of his performances from this season to last year, when was 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts before injuring his right foot June 15, and doesn’t see a difference.

“Everything is the same as last season,” Wang said. “Nothing’s wrong. Just keep working.”

But Girardi also watched video with his staff and thinks there are several things Wang can work on.

“We looked at his hands, height of his leg kick, where his head is — if it’s out of line — the angle of his arm. We looked at everything.” Girardi said. “We had some healthy stuff that we saw. We understand that we need to make some adjustments.”

[My take: Since the Yanks don’t have a “long man”, would they want to (could they afford to) move Wang into that slot for a little while, rather than sending him to Triple-A?]

• Not-so-fun fact: Chien-Ming Wang is only the second starting pitcher since 1954 to give up seven or more earned runs in each of his first three starts in a season.
• From our friends over at Was Watching (with an assist from the Hit Tracker website), it appears the new Stadium is  more conducive to homers:

I created this by using actual prints from the new stadium, and by using high resolution satellite photos for the old stadium. You may have heard that the dimensions at the new park are the same as the old park, but that is not strictly true. In certain spots the distances are the same or similar, but there are significant differences in the fence line. As you can see in the diagram, most of right field is shorter in the new park, by as much as 9 feet, but more typically by 4-5 feet (the blue dotted lines in the corners are scale markings that are 4 feet apart.) In center field, the new park is actually a bit deeper, and in left field, the parks are very similar. From some analysis I’ve done on home runs, these differences would tend to increase home runs overall, and particularly in middle-to-lower power hitters.

The fence distances are not the only difference: in a few places, the fence is shorter (particularly the right field corner). A typical conversion factor for fence height to distance is that lowering a fence by 1 foot is roughly equal to moving it 0.84 feet closer to home plate. So, with the right field fence being a couple feet shorter in the new park, this is like moving it in a foot and a half or so. Minor, but I thought I’d mention it.

• Buster Olney has noticed the homer-happy wind patterns at the Stadium:

“With the way the wind has been the last couple of days, right field is a joke,” one official said. “I would say at least three or four home runs in this series would be routine outs in nearly every park.” . . .

The new Yankee Stadium is just across the street from the old park, but it’s not aligned quite the same way as the old Yankee Stadium. In the late-afternoon shadows in the old park, the sun was in the eyes of the left fielder. Now the sun sets into the eyes of the center field and right fielder. Whether or not that’s a factor is not known, and it’s also possible that the number of home runs hit is directly related to the poor pitching of the likes of Chien-Ming Wang.

But already there have been a number of fly balls that seemed to be routine outs, before almost leaping out of the park. Mark Teixeira lifted a pop to right field off the end of his bat in the first inning Saturday, and players on both teams appeared to be completely surprised when it carried over the wall.

Even if the Yankees wanted to make an adjustment, there is nothing they could do structurally to alter the park this season. They would have to petition for a change going into the next offseason, before doing any reconstruction.

[My take: Coors Field humidor perhaps?]

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It’s another gorgeous day in New York. It’s a balmy 70 degrees and, though it’s hazier than the last two days, that haze might actually benefit the Yankees and Indians as they have a late afternoon start time as FOX’s game of the week.

With each team having taken one game thus far in this four-game set, today’s third game offers a compelling pitching matchup as both teams send their struggling sinkerballer to the mound in the hope of witnessing a breakthrough.

Fausto Carmona enters today’s game with a 9.00 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP after having lost his first two starts, both of which also came on the road. Carmona got 20 fly balls to just 14 grounders in those two games and has walked six against just five strikeouts, but at least he lasted five innings in both starts. Chien-Ming Wang enters today’s game with a whopping 28.93 ERA and 4.50 WHIP after throwing just 4 2/3 innings in his first two starts combined. Wang has a better groundball rate than Carmona thus far, though it’s still tilted the other way with 14 flies to 11 grounders, but he’s also walked six in less than half as many innings and struck out just one batter. In 2007, both of these pitchers won 19 games. Last year, both won just eight due to injury and poor performance.

So who’s going to turn it around today? Wang, who pitching coach Dave Eiland said has looked good in his side sessions but has thus far been unable to bring his good stuff to the game mound, has the advantage of pitching at home for the first time this season and is the first pitcher to make a second start at Yankee Stadium having started against the Cubs in the exhibition game on April 3. Of course, he didn’t pitch particularly well in that game either. Carmona faced the Yankees just once last year, surviving five walks in five innings by inducing 16 ground balls. The Indians won that game in the eighth on a three-run David Dellucci home run off Joba Chamberlain.

Johnny Damon gets a half-day off at DH today as Nick Swisher returns to right field and Melky Cabrera slides over to left. Slick-fielding Ramiro Peña gets the start at third base behind the groundballing Wang. Hideki Matsui, who has fluid in his knees, isn’t starting for the second day in a row.

Meanwhile, Juan Miranda, who was called up before yesterday’s game, has been optioned out for Anthony Claggett, the righty reliever acquired in the Sheffield trade who spent 2008 in Double-A and was dominant in spring training. I’m not sure why the Yankees didn’t just keep David Robertson after his two strong innings on Thursday (he was optioned down for Miranda and thus can’t return for ten days unless the Yankees suffer a pitching injury), but I am glad to see the relief reinforcements Triple-A  getting some early cups of coffee. Robertson and Claggett could prove to be important pieces as the season advances.

Joba Chamberlain’s second start of the season didn’t go quite as well as the first. He gave up a solo home run to the second batter he faced (Mark DeRosa), walked five men including two in the fourth inning leading to a second Cleveland run (on a Ben Francisco two-out RBI single), and coughed up three more runs in the fifth before being pulled with two outs in that inning. Chamberlain still managed to strike out four in his 4 2/3 innings, but he lacked control throughout, throwing fewer than half of his 93 pitches for strikes and mixing in a wild pitch in the top of the fifth.

The Yankee offense, meanwhile, drew six walks, but didn’t get a single hit with a runner on base in the entire game. Instead they took advantage of the jet stream heading out to right field in their new park and peppered the right-field stands with solo home runs. Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira went back-to-back off Tribe starter Anthony Reyes in the third to give the Yankees their first lead at their new ballpark. After Chamberlain allowed the Indians to tie the score in the top of the fourth, Melky Cabrera answered back with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-2 Yanks.

Chamberlain gave that lead right back as well, but the Yankee bullpen locked it down from there with Phil Coke, Jonathan Albaladejo, and the suddenly unhittable Brian Bruney combining to face the minimum over 3 2/3 scoreless innings. In the meantime, Robinson Cano brought the Yankees to within one with a solo shot of lefty Zach Jackson leading off the sixth, and Cleveland reliever Vinnie Chulk handed the Yankees the tying run in the seventh by walking Damon to start the inning, then throwing away a comebacker from Mark Teixeira for a two-base error that let Damon come all the way around to score.

After Bruney’s dominant eighth inning (11 pitches, 8 strikes, two Ks), pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui and Brett Gardner struck out against Jensen Lewis to start the bottom of the ninth, but Derek Jeter connected for a two-out solo shot (a Captain Solo, if you will) that proved to be the game winner as Mariano Rivera  pitched around a pair of singles and struck out DeRosa to earn his first save and seal the Yankees’ first win in the new stadium. Final score: 6-5 Yankees.

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The Yankees had a beautiful day for the opening of their new stadium yesterday. Unfortunately the game turned out to be their ugliest loss of the season thus far. Today the weather is even better (just as sunny, but warmer), and the Yanks hope their fortunes will respond in kind.

Joba Chamberlain makes his second start of the season. His first start, on Sunday in Kansas City, was a good one (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), but the bullpen (specifically Phil Coke) blew the game. The Indians counter with former Cardinals prospect, and fellow flat-brimmer, Anthony Reyes, who didn’t pitch as well against the Blue Jays on Sunday (6 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 2 K), but benefited from eight runs of support to earn the win.

Over parts of four seasons, Reyes posted a 5.38 ERA in 220 2/3 innings for the Cardinals, in part because of the 37 home runs he allowed. The Indians picked up Reyes at last year’s trading deadline for minor league righty reliever Luis Perdomo (last seen being claimed off waivers from the Padres by the Giants last week). The early returns on Reyes were excellent (five strong starts, a 1.83 ERA, and just two taters), but Reyes’s sixth start ended early due to elbow pain, an echo of the arm problems that plagued him at USC. Reyes butted heads with Dave Duncan in St. Louis because Duncan responded to his gopheritis by trying to get him to become a sinkerballer. Reyes got his way by getting out of Dodge, but he’s now 27 and has yet to have any sustained success in the majors (his five starts for the Tribe in September were undermined by a severe dip in his strikeout rate).

Reyes has never faced the Yankees before, though Nick Swisher did go 0-for-3 against him in an interleague game in 2007. This will be Chamberlain’s first start against the Indians, though he’s faced them seven times in relief, most famously in the “midge” game in the 2007 ALDS.

Today’s news is powered by “Instant Rimshot“.  Now you know where to go when you need a rimshot.  Here’s what is going on in Yankeeland:

• Will Carroll weighs in on Xavier Nady’s prognosis:

Several pitchers have come back from a redo of Tommy John surgery. The replaced ligament breaks, much in the same way, and for much the same reason, as it did in the first place. As far as I can tell, no position player has needed a redo, largely because few players put the same kind of repetitive stress on their arms that a pitcher does. Nady looks to be the first, a unique spot I’m sure he didn’t want to be in. He’s headed for at least one more opinion before surgery, but multiple sources report that he’s telling teammates that’s where he’s headed. He’ll be done for 2009, but there’s a small chance he could play late in the season, and no reason to think he won’t be 100 percent by 2010.

• PeteAbe has further updates on the health of Nady and Mark Teixeira.
• MLB.com offers a photo gallery from yesterday’s home opener.
• The Times has their own photo slideshow from the opener.
• Boss George was touched by the fans’ response to the mention of his name:

When George Steinbrenner was introduced before the first game at the new Yankee Stadium, he received a nice ovation. Steinbrenner, who was sitting in the owner’s box with his wife Joan, cried in response.

[My take: For all his bluster and heavy-handedness, could you imagine where the Yankees franchise might have ended up had he not taken over in the early ’70s?  A $1.5 billion dollar stadium?  Its own broadcast network?]

• Here’s your (partial) list of new Stadium “firsts”.
• Jim Caple of ESPN gives us a video tour of the Stadium.
• Jayson Stark’s “Useless Info” blog column has a quirky list of Yankee non-pitchers taking to the mound:

Swing and a swish: Nick Swisher headed for the old pitcher’s mound in Tampa Bay on Monday wearing a Yankees uniform — and actually struck out Gabe Kapler. . . .

Wade Boggs: Aug. 19, 1997: K’d Todd Greene.

Rick Cerone: July 19, 1987: Fanned an AL pitcher, Bobby Witt, who was actually pinch hitting in a 20-3 game.

Rocky Colavito: Aug. 25, 1968: Punched out Dick Tracewski — in the sixth inning, in a game in which Colavito wound up as the winning pitcher.

Gene Michael: Aug. 26, 1968: In the second game of back-to-back doubleheaders, Michael wound up pitching the last three innings, facing 16 hitters and whiffing three of them . .

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Cleveland Indians

2008 Record: 81-81 (.500)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 85-77 (.525)

Manager: Eric Wedge
General Manager: Mark Shapiro

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Progressive Field (103/102)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Mark DeRosa replaces Casey Blake and some of Jamey Carroll (DL)
• Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner inherit playing time from Franklin Gutierrez
• Victor Martinez reclaims playing time from Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Garko
• Trevor Crowe is filling in for David Dellucci (DL)
• Tony Graffanino is filling in for Jamey Carroll (DL)
• Anthony Reyes replaces Paul Byrd
• Carl Pavano replaces CC Sabathia, Jake Westbrook (DL), and Matt Ginter
• Aaron Laffey is filling in for Scott Lewis (DL) who replaces Jeremy Sowers (minors)
• Fausto Carmona and Lewis take over starts from Laffey
• Kerry Wood replaces Edward Mujica and Juan Rincon and takes over the save opportunities given to Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, Masa Kobayashi, and Joe Borowski
• Joe Smith and Vinnie Chulk replace Tom Mastny, Jorge Julio, Joe Borowski, and assorted others
• Vinnie Chulk is filling Josh Barfield’s roster spot; Barfield replaces Andy Marte

25-man Roster:

1B – Ryan Garko (R)
2B – Asdrubal Cabrera (S)
SS – Jhonny Peralta (R)
3B – Mark DeRosa (R)
C – Victor Martinez (S)
RF – Shin-Soo Choo (L)
CF – Grady Sizemore (L)
LF – Ben Francisco (R)
DH – Travis Hafner (L)

Bench:

R – Kelly Shoppach (C)
S – Trevor Crowe (OF)
R – Tony Graffanino (IF)

Rotation:

L – Cliff Lee
R – Anthony Reyes
R – Fausto Carmona
R – Carl Pavano
L – Aaron Laffey

Bullpen:

R – Kerry Wood
R – Rafael Betancourt
L – Rafael Perez
R – Jensen Lewis
R – Masahide Kobayashi
R – Joe Smith
R – Vinnie Chulk
L – Zach Jackson

15-day DL: LHP – Scott Lewis (elbow strain), OF – David Dellucci (strained calf), IF – Jamey Carroll (broken hand)
60-day DL: RHP – Jake Westbrook (TJ)

Typical Lineup:

L – Grady Sizemore (CF)
R – Mark DeRosa (3B)
S – Victor Martinez (C)
L – Travis Hafner (DH)
R – Jhonny Peralta (SS)
L – Shin-Soo Choo (RF)
R – Ryan Garko (1B)
R – Ben Francisco (LF)
S – Asdrubal Cabrera (2B)

Note: Trevor Crowe is sharing left field with Ben Francisco. Otherwise, the most common lineup variation sees Martinez shift to first with Kelly Shoppach taking his place behind the plate and Garko’s spot in the lineup.

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And we’re off . . .

• Richard Sandomir of the Times has an interesting article on the history of the unique frieze atop Yankee Stadium:

. . . Marty Appel, the Yankees’ assistant public relations director in the early ’70s, said that Michael Burke, who ran the Yankees for CBS and served briefly under Steinbrenner, “got huffy” when he saw there was no frieze in the renovation plans but knew the new upper deck could not accommodate it. So it went into the outfield.

“The design was in place by the time George bought the team,” Appel said.

As if to atone for past sins, the Yankees have recreated the look of the original frieze in their $1.5 billion stadium that is meant to evoke the ’23 design. The first was made of copper — although the Osborn blueprint calls it Toncan metal, which suggests a copper-iron alloy — but the new one is steel coated with zinc to protect it from rusting and two layers of white paint. . . .

The new version looks very much like the old one, although its details are less intricately drawn than Osborn’s original. It is made of 38 connected panels, all 11 feet deep, 12 feet high and most of them 40 feet long. With the columns between each panel, the frieze weighs 315 tons.

• Mr. Sandomir also pens an article on how the protective netting in back of the plate may interfere with your TV viewing pleasure:

The problem at the new Yankee Stadium is that for all the team’s rigid devotion to recreating the old ballpark’s dimensions, it reduced by 20 feet the distance from home plate to the backstop, to 52 feet 4 inches. . . . By pushing the seating outward, it caused the protective netting to be taller and wider than it was at the old stadium.

(But) the Yankee Stadium angle is the most nettlesome one, which may force YES (or ESPN or Fox) to minimize their use of the camera position, no matter how important.

During the exhibition game at the stadium against the Cubs on April 4, the supporting wires and netting formed a fishnet shroud over the camera shot. It’s not as bad a view as the one spectators will get from the bleacher seats flanking the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and bleacher cafe, but it is nonetheless a jolting shift from the unimpeded shot in the old stadium.

• The Times’ Joe LaPointe profiles Yogi Berra, and his clout at the park:

On his visits to the old Yankee Stadium last season, Yogi Berra brought along a little jar to collect peculiar souvenirs.

“I’ve got the dirt,” Berra said of his soil samples from the basepaths and the pitching mound. But he is still seeking a larger prize. “I told them I’d like to have the home plate,” Berra said. “They said, ‘Well, maybe.’ ”

Berra will throw out the ceremonial first pitch Thursday afternoon to open the new Yankee Stadium. Randy Levine, the team president, was asked if Berra could have one of the old plates, behind which he worked so well for so long.

“Absolutely,” Levine said Wednesday. “We try and accommodate Yogi. Whatever Yogi wants, we try and give to Yogi. This is the first I’m hearing about it. But we’ll do everything we can. Yogi’s so important to the Yankees.”

• Tyler Kepner has all the minutiae on the Opening Day events at the stadium:

The team also announced that Kelly Clarkson will sing the national anthem, a selection that should be popular with Derek Jeter, a confessed “American Idol” addict. Pre-game ceremonies will begin at 12:10 p.m. with the West Point Marching Band performing John Philip Sousa’s “Washington Post March” and “Stars and Stripes Forever”. Those choices are meaningful: before the original Yankee Stadium’s opener on April 18, 1923, Sousa performed on field with the Seventh Regiment Band.

The home plate and pitching rubber to be used Thursday is the same set that closed out the old Yankee Stadium last September. When the game is over, the plate and the rubber will be moved to the Yankees Museum, located in the ballpark.

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Andy Pettitte takes the hill this afternoon looking to send the Yankees home with a win. Pettitte was fantastic against the Royals on Friday (7 IP, 1 R, 6 K, just four baserunners). In his last start against the Rays, last July, he was even better (8 IP, 0 R, 5 K, four baserunners), though that came at home and his results in three previous starts against the Rays were more mixed.

Johnny Damon, who missed yesterday’s game due to the flu, returns to the lineup this afternoon, bumping Derek Jeter back into the leadoff spot and Brett Gardner down to the seven hole. Damon takes the place of the ailing Xavier Nady who is out indefinitely due to a tear in his right elbow (more specific news is still pending as Nady waits to see the team doctors). The rest of the lineup is the same as last night’s with Jorge Posada at DH and Ramiro Peña at third base.

That lineup will face 26-year-old righty Andy Sonnanstine, who had a rough outing against the Orioles last week (4 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 K) and last faced the Yankees a year and one day ago, also at the Trop, and was even worse (3 1/3 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 3 HR). Of the three Yankees who homered of him in that game, only Damon is in today’s lineup (Alex Rodriguez and Morgan Ensberg were the other two).

Everyone’s wearing number 42 today in recognition of Jackie Robinson day. Whereas wearing the number was elective in past years, this year it’s manditory for everyone.

Let’s get right to it …

• Joel Sherman expresses some concern over Chien-Ming Wang:

Still, the Yanks had envisioned Wang returning from his 2008 foot injury to be what he was the previous two seasons, which was a 19-win innings eater. Instead, he has logged just a total of 4 2-3 innings in two starts and his 28.93 ERA is the worst in the majors for anyone who has made a start in 2009 not named (sorry Yankee fans) Carl Pavano.

Wang . . . is essentially weapon-less when he does not have the sink on his fastball. You could find plenty of statistical analysts who had projected long-term problems for Wang because righties who strike out as few batters as Wang do not typically have extended success.

Right now, the Yanks are saying that Wang’s delivery is messed up and that is preventing him from driving his sinker down in the strike zone. And when that sinker is up in the zone, Wang simply becomes glorified batting practice. But one apprehension with Wang has always been what happens as AL hitters become more familiar with Wang and don’t chase that sinker early in the count and simply wait and wait until Wang comes up in the zone.

[My take: Is that one of the reasons why the Yanks have not offered Wang a long-term deal?]

• Yanks pitching coach Dave Eiland speaks about Wang:

Up until Chien-Ming Wang’s first batter on Monday, the pitching coach Dave Eiland expected a good game. In two bullpen sessions, one last weekend and one before the game, Wang had corrected a flaw in his mechanics.

“Starting in Baltimore, his arm was late, he wasn’t on time, he wasn’t getting on top of the ball to throw the ball downhill and get his signature sink,” Eiland said. “He made the adjustment in his side work, he warmed up tremendously, and then in the game, he was back to where he was in Baltimore. He just didn’t take it out there with him.”

• PeteAbe didn’t have a problem with Nick Swisher enjoying himself on the mound Monday night:

. . . It was 15-5 and they asked a guy to pitch who hadn’t pitched since his freshman year of high school. . . . These things happen sometimes.

The best part was when he shook Jose Molina off, even through there were no signs. When he struck Gabe Kapler out, Swish rolled the ball into the dugout for a souvenir. Hilarious.

His best line was that this game is like an Etch-A-Sketch, you need to shake it and start over again.

• Pete also isn’t getting too worried about Wang:

Wang seemed stunned. He said the issue was where he released the ball, which was off to the side instead of over the top. A sinkerball pitcher wants to stand tall on the mound and throw the ball on a downward plane. Otherwise the ball floats over the strike zone and you see what happens.

Try and remember, Wang was 46-15, 3.74 from 2006-08. There are only a handful of starters who have been better. He’s also coming off a ninth-long stretch when he didn’t pitch in a regular-season game.

Have a little faith that the guy didn’t suddenly lose his ability. This stuff happens sometimes.

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Disregard that 7-2 final score; last night’s game at Tropicana Field was a tense pitchers’ duel that saw both teams execute late-game rallies, leaving the result in doubt until the ninth inning.

The Yankees got off to a good start by loading the bases against Matt Garza without recording an out in the top of the first. Singles by Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter and a walk to Mark Teixeira brought up the team’s hottest hitter in Nick Swisher. Swisher worked a seven-pitch full count, but Garza struck out Swisher on a nasty curveball. Jorge Posada got one run home with a sacrifice fly to deep left, but Robinson Cano hit a looping liner to strand the remaning runners.

For a while it seemed that one run was all the Yankees would need as A.J. Burnett burned through the Rays order, issuing only a walk to Pat Burrell the first time through.

When Swisher led of the fourth, Garza sent a 1-1 fastball right at Nick’s noggin, likely retribution for Swisher’s jovial mound appearance (and souvenir strikeout ball) from the night before. Swisher ducked out of the way, took a close strike on the outside corner, then dumped Garza’s next pitch in the right-centerfield stands to make the Yankee lead 2-0.

Burnett, set the Rays down in order the second time through the Tampa lineup to bring a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Burnett wound up allowing just three hits in his eight innings of work, unfortunately, they all came in a row to start the seventh as Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Peña singled to make it 2-1 and Burrell lifted a sac fly to right to tie the game at 2-2.

Undeterred, the Yankees took the lead right back in the eight. With Garza’s night having ended after seven frames, nine Ks, and 112 pitches, Joe Maddon brought in lefty J.P. Howell to face Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira, whose aching wrist is most bothersome when he hits right-handed. Gardner led off by lifting a fly-ball double over a drawn-in Crawford in left field. Jeter then singled to put runners on the corners, and the aching Teixeira, who had gone 0-for-2 with a walk from the left side, worked a full count, then lifted a sac fly to the warning track to plate Gardner with the go-ahead run.

After one last perfect inning from Burnett in the eight, the Yankees added some insurance against Dan Wheeler in the ninth. Robinson Cano led off with a first-pitch single. Melky Cabrera, who had entered as a defensive replacement for Xavier Nady in the eighth, hit a ground-ball single through the right side. Then, after Ramiro Peña, who started for Cody Ransom and went 0-for-3 with a walk) failed to get down a bunt and Jose Molina (0-for-4) struck out, Gardner bounced a ground-rule double off the warning track in straight-away center and Jeter completed the scoring with a three-run homer to right center. Brian Bruney the capped the night off by striking out the top three men in the Rays’ order on ten pitches, five of them, including all three pitches to Evan Longoria, swinging strikes.

Burnett did exactly what the Yankees needed him to do, and exactly what he set out to do, not only delivering a win, but eating up eight innings in the process. He needed just 103 pitches, struck out nine, and allowed just four baserunners (the Burrell walk and the three straight singles in the seventh).

The Yankees can now wrap up a winning road trip with a win behind Andy Pettitte this afternoon.

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A.J. Burnett’s first Yankee start saw him halt a two-game losing streak with 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against the Orioles last Thursday. Today, the Yankees will ask Burnett not only to halt a two-game losing streak, but to go a little deeper into the game. Tonight is the seventh in a streak fifteen straight days on which the Yankees have a game.

Chien-Ming Wang’s disastrous start last night forced Joe Girardi to burn default long man Jonathan Albaladejo for 60 pitches over three innings last night as well as Edwar Ramirez for 51 pitches over two innings. Phil Coke threw 38 pitches last night after pitching the day before as well. That leaves Girardi with a four-man bullpen for tonight. Fortunately, the four available men are the top four in the pen: Mariano Rivera, Brian Bruney, Damaso Marte, and Jose Veras. Still, Girardi won’t be able to play matchups in the late-innings if Burnett doesn’t go deep into the game.

Much to my surprise, the Yankees have not optioned Albaladejo or Coke in exchange for a fresh bullpen arm. Last April 17, Albaladejo threw 48 pitches in a three-inning relief outing following an early Mike Mussina exit and was optioned out the next day for the fresh arm of Edwar Ramirez, who then pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings that night.

More to the point, the Yankees are 3-4 on the season and would like to return home with a winning record. That would require them to win tonight and tomorrow behind Burnett and Andy Pettitte.

Johnny Damon is out with the flu. Nick Swisher takes his place in left field as Mark Teixeira returns to the lineup against the righty-throwing Matt Garza. Brett Gardner moves to the leadoff spot, pushing Derek Jeter back down to number two. Swisher bats cleanup as Hideki Matsui gets the day off, Jorge Posada serves as DH after catching all but the final half inning of last night’s 3 1/2 hour disaster. Jose Molina is behind the plate just as he was for Burnett’s last start. Ramiro Peña starts at third in place of the struggling Cody Ransom, who is 2-for-24 with a pair of walks and eight strikeouts on the young season and had a miserable night in the field last night, due in part to the baseball-colored Tropicana Field roof.

The Rays run out the same lineup save for Ben Zobrist getting the start in left field. Matt Garza dominated the Red Sox in his last start, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks in seven full innings. The ALCS MVP pitched similarly against the Yankees last April, but had a tougher time with the Bombers in two September starts, posting this combined line in two Rays losses: 10 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 HR. Xavier Nady hit one of the two home runs (Wilson Betemit hit the other).

It’s worth noting that the Yankees went 11-7 against the eventual pennant winning Rays last year.

Today’s news is powered by the late, great voice of the Phillies, Mr. Harry Kalas:

• Tyler Kepner reports that Alex Rodriguez is now rehabilitating in Tampa:

Alex Rodriguez was back on a baseball field Monday, working out for 48 minutes at the Yankees’ minor league complex here. With the trainer Gene Monahan beside him, Rodriguez took 40 grounders at third base, made about 75 total swings (some off a tee, some on balls flipped from a coach) and did some light running.

• Is A-Rod turning over an old leaf?  Rodriguez claims he’s going to be more like the ’07 version upon his return:

Alex Rodriguez says his headline grabbing days of drama are over – and that during the time he spent in Colorado recovering from hip surgery he figured out that he needs to put his team first and “focus on things on the field with the Yankees.”

“I’m gonna go back to what I did in ’07,” Rodriguez, who won his third MVP Award that year, said after his workout at the Yankees’ minor league complex Monday. “Cut some of the fat out and really focus on playing baseball and focus on what I do best – and that’s playing baseball.”

[My take: If there was such a thing as “Publicity-seekers Anonymous”, I think Alex would be looking for a sponsor.]

• Potty-time at the new Stadium:

The new Yankee Stadium, with a capacity of 52,325, needed a minimum of 358 women’s toilets and 176 men’s fixtures, of which no more than half could be urinals, according to the city Department of Buildings.

Generally, once the minimum requirements are reached, the mix of toilets can be tailored to the building’s needs. Studies show that baseball crowds lean slightly male. Stadium builders tend to meet the requirements and add a bunch of urinals.

The Yankees and their architects, Populous (formerly HOK Sport Venue Event, which also designed Citi Field), gave Yankee Stadium 369 women’s toilets, and 98 toilets and 298 urinals for men, according to the buildings department. Another 78 fixtures are in unisex bathrooms, designed for families or in luxury suites.

[My take: No truth to the rumor that those in the Legends seats can have someone go for them.]

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Tampa Bay Rays

2008 Record: 97-65 (.599), AL Champs
2008 Pythagorean Record: 92-70 (.568)

Manager: Joe Maddon
General Manager: Andrew Friedman

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Tropicana Field (102/103)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Pat Burrell replaces Eric Hinske and Jonny Gomes
• Gabe Kapler replaces Cliff Floyd
• Jeff Niemann replaces Edwin Jackson (and is holding a spot for David Price)
• Brian Shouse replaces Trever Miller
• Joe Nelson replaces Jason Hammel
• Lance Cormier replaces Gary Glover and Chad Bradford (DL)

25-man Roster:

1B – Carlos Peña (L)
2B – Akinori Iwamura (L)
SS – Jason Bartlett (R)
3B – Evan Longoria (R)
C – Dioner Navarro (S)
RF – Gabe Gross (L)
CF – B.J. Upton (R)
LF – Carl Crawford (L)
DH – Pat Burrell (R)

Bench:

S – Willy Aybar (1B/3B)
S – Ben Zobrist (UT)
R – Gabe Kapler (OF)
R – Shawn Riggans (C)

Rotation:

R – James Shields
L – Scott Kazmir
R – Matt Garza
R – Andy Sonnanstine
R – Jeff Niemann

Bullpen:

R – Troy Percival
R – Grant Balfour
L – J.P. Howell
R – Dan Wheeler
L – Brian Shouse
R – Joe Nelson
R – Lance Cormier

15-day DL: RHP – Chad Bradford (elbow surgery), RHP – Jason Isringhausen (rehab from September elbow surgery), OF – Fernando Perez (broken wrist)

Projected Lineup:

R – B.J. Upton (CF)
L – Carl Crawford (LF)
R – Evan Longoria (3B)
L – Carlos Peña (1B)
R – Pat Burrell (DH)
L – Gabe Gross (RF)
S – Dioner Navarro (C)
L – Akinori Iwamura (2B)
R – Jason Bartlett (SS)

Notes: Gross will platoon with Gabe Kapler and Ben Zobrist in right field.

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Today’s news is powered by new music from DEVO! (Yeah yeah, I know . . . they’re not cool like Stevie or Miles, but hey . . .)

“DON’T SHOOT” – DEVO from DEVO Channel on Vimeo.

• Tyler Kepner applies something akin to “six degrees of separation” to get us from having Ruben Rivera on the roster to acquiring Nick Swisher.
• Sticking with Swisher, MLB.com profiles the hot-hitting Yankee:

“I’m absolutely loving it,” Swisher said. “It’s like I almost don’t want to wake up. I don’t want to soak it in right now. I want to keep that fire, keep that passion and keep that attitude going right now.

“When I come to the ballpark, I feel confident. I know in this game, you’re going to go through ups and downs, but right now, things seem to be going pretty well.”. . .

“He’s playing well, he really is,” Girardi said. “He’s swinging the bat well, played a nice first base [Saturday] and had some tough throws that he had to dig out. Left-handed or right-handed, he’s always a tough at-bat.”

• The Times’ Vincent Mazzolli wonders how one could better spend the $10,600 it costs for four of the best seats at the new Stadium:

Autograph collectors like me can take $10,600 and buy a dozen baseballs signed by Alex Rodriguez (about $350 per ball), a dozen signed by Derek Jeter (about $300 a ball), and still have enough cash to get every other player on the 25-man roster to autograph an individual ball.

Last month, I really let the wrong pitch go by. Rather than invest $10,600 in three hours of baseball, I could have bought 10,600 shares of Citigroup stock on March 6. The share price has tripled.

There are a great many other ways to spend $10,600. You can spring for 14 Frederic Fekkai haircuts at $750 a pop, or treat yourself and 85 of your closest friends to orchestra tickets for “The Lion King” on Broadway ($121.50 per ticket on Broadway.com).

Maybe one day, someone will make a movie about the skyrocketing costs of raising a baseball family, especially in Ruth’s old neighborhood. They could call it “The Bronx Is Burning a Hole in Our Wallets.”

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Today’s news is powered by a nice video tribute to Lou Gehrig:

• Let’s start with 2 trivia questions (only one Yankee-related).  1) Who was the first pitcher to win a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger in the same season? 2) Who was the last player to hit into four DPs in one game.  (answer at the end of the column)
• Kat O’Brien of Newsday notes how close the Yanks came to NOT getting Mark Teixeira:

Up and down the Yankees’ organization, from Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada to Joe Girardi and Hal Steinbrenner, the sentiment on Mark Teixeira early in the offseason was that he would be playing elsewhere in 2009.

Steinbrenner, the last word in ownership, had the power to change that if he wanted to sign Teixeira. But the Yankees were locked in on pitching, to the point that Teixeira was not on the agenda.

“Teixeira never was really an option,” Cashman said. “It was something I kept pushing, but it was not really being accepted by above me . . . I guess persistence paid off. I knocked on that door, I guess, just enough that someone finally answered. Hal really gave me the OK to pursue it over a few-day period. And at that point, I still thought the Red Sox were getting him.”

• Bob Klapisch has seen A.J. Burnett, and likes what he sees:

A tough, John Wayne-type, Burnett doesn’t do team therapy, and he stops short of calling himself an ace, but talent evaluators will nevertheless tell you the 32-year-old right-hander is by far the Yankees’ most intimidating pitcher.

Burnett has the stuff (96-mph heat), the guts (he threw that decisive curve with the bases loaded and a full count) and the stoic nature to lead the Yankees. He’s quiet, but not in a meek, Chien-Ming Wang sort of way. Fierce, but not on the dangerous roller coaster that Kevin Brown used to ride.

• Joel Sherman has some thoughts on the Captain:

It is only three games, but Derek Jeter has seemed to think more like a leadoff hitter in this go-around in the spot. He has shown a greater willingness to work the count. His career norm is to see about 3.7 pitches per at-bat, but that is 4.1 so far this year and what has stood out is a few at-bats where he was down in the count quickly and still generated a long turn at-bat.

The other element that has stood out with Jeter is that he has seemed to lose a step or two running to first base. He has hit some slow rollers that memory suggests he beat out in the past and now he was clearly out at first base.

• Meanwhile, PeteAbe is similarly concerned about Hideki Matsui:

Hideki Matsui is 1 for 14. That one hit was a home run, but still.

I know it’s only four games, but is this a concern? He’s also running to first base like he needs a walker.

[My take: So we’ve got our own version of Edgar Martinez?]

• PeteAbe does have some happier news . . .:

The bullpen over the last three games: 10 innings 0 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 12 strikeouts.

• Alex Rodriguez update . . . (absolutely no mirror-preening included):

Alex Rodriguez is to resume baseball activities Monday, more than a month following hip surgery on March 9.

The third baseman has been working out in Vail, Colo., since the operation. The Yankees start a three-game series Monday at the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi said the three-time AL MVP will resume swinging a bat after he reports to the team’s minor league complex.

Girardi said Friday that Rodriguez has been swinging a broom for the past few weeks and slowly increasing his workload.

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The Yankees scored two in the top of the first against Sidney Ponson yesterday afternoon, and Andy Pettitte made those runs hold up with seven stellar innings in which he allowed just one run on three hits and a walk as the Yankees beat the Royals 4-1 in Kansas City’s home opener.

Pettitte’s was the best performance by a Yankee starting pitcher this season and underlined the strength of this year’s team: starting pitching depth. There’s not a man in the Yankees’ rotation that you wouldn’t want to have on the mound on any given day (yes, even A.J. Burnett, my complaints about him stem largely from his injury history and his contract, in other words the possibility of having him not on the mound but still on the books). The Yankees opened the season by having their top two starters, CC Sabathia and Chien-Ming Wang, get lit up, but Burnett and Pettitte brought them right back to even in the blink of an eye. Sabathia takes his second turn tomorrow, then Joba Chamberlain gets his first on Sunday, then back around again. If those five starters can stay healthy (admittedly a huge “if”), the Yankees will have a very realistic expectation of winning every game they play. They’ll still lose about 60 of them, but it won’t be because they were outmatched on the mound. That’s a tremendous advantage for a ballclub, in terms of strength and strategy as well as confidence.

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Today’s news is powered a nicely-done video tribute to Nick Adenhart:

• The Yankees react to the news of Adenhart’s death:

Jose Molina and Edwar Ramirez both played with Adenhart in the Angels organization, and each of them remembered the 22-year-old as a terrific teammate.

“He was an awesome kid,” said Molina, who was in spring training camp with Adenhart in 2006-07. “He was kind of quiet, but that may have just been because he was a rookie.”

Ramirez said he used to hitch rides with Adenhart every day in spring training. He was thrilled when he heard the pitcher had made his big-league debut last May, then watched the highlights Wednesday night after Adenhart pitched six scoreless innings against the A’s.

“It’s shocking. He was a great guy,” Ramirez said. “When I saw that he made it to the majors, I was so happy for him. And after last night? It’s horrible.”

• MLB.com’s wrap-up of Thursday’s game.
• MLB also reports on Nick Swisher’s adjustment to a bench role:

While Swisher is grappling with the idea of not being an everyday player, he keeps a random assortment of artists like Akon and Flo Rida filling the air. There may not be four guaranteed at-bats a night, but the beat must go on.

“Whether you’re playing or not, you try to keep the energy level high,” Swisher said. “It’s a little different when you’re not playing, but you try your best to keep it up. You want to try to be the same guy all the time, and sometimes it’s tough. But we’ve got a great group of guys.”

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