The Rangers welcome the Astros to the American League to kick-off the 2013 season.

[Photo Via: It's a Long Season]

Opening Day. It is cold and rainy in the Bronx but it today is Opening Day and there will be baseball. It’s been a long winter and I’ve waited months to clap my hands and say the following:

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

[Photo Credit: Pictures for walls]

Ugly day out there for the start of baseball season. How’d you like to be a hitter facing Verlander or C.C. today? No matter, baseball begins and like Michael Kay at Mickey D’s, I’m lovin’ it.

For a series preview, check out our man Cliff doing his thing.

[photo credit: yehwan]

Mike Vaccaro in the Post:

These are the kinds of days the old place was built for, when there was bunting draped all around her, when even on the coldest April days you could always coax a whisper of summer out of the sky. Opening Day at Yankee Stadium: five words that never grew tired across the generations.

The move across the street seems more permanent now than it ever did last year. The old place is coming down in hunks and chunks — “It looks like ruins,” Yankee manager Joe Girardi said — and soon there really will only be memories where Ruth and DiMaggio and Mantle did their finest work.

No, as much as the new Yankee Stadium saw last year — all those walk-off wins, all those pies to the face, all those postseason victories and that one final, glorious, championship-clinching win against the Phillies — today is when it officially becomes the Yankees’ home for good.

Happy Easter y’all. This was always one of my favorite holidays as a kid (one of the benefits of having a Catholic mother and a Jewish father–double holidays!). My mom was big on painting eggs the night before; we’d wake up Easter morning and have an Easter Egg hunt (and if the weather was lousy we’d have it inside).

Welp, today Easter falls on Opening Day, or Opening Night of the 2010 baseball season. It’s the 8th Opening Day for us here at the Banter and we’re thrilled and delighted to have you guys along with us for what promises to be another absorbing season of Yankees baseball.

Let’s do this like Brutus.

The Phillies’ season may hinge on the hinge in their ace’s left arm. Cole Hamels should be starting tonight, but he’s been pushed back to Friday by the elbow inflammation which reared its head in mid-March. If Hamels is unable to make 30 starts this year, that just might open the door for a lesser team such as the Braves to slip into the postseason. A strong season from Myers could help keep the Braves in their place, which provides a nice subtext to tonight’s game. The Braves counter Myers tonight with Derek Lowe, who signed a four-year, $60 million deal with the Braves this winter and will be as important to their season as Hamels is to the Phillies’.

Full rosters below the jump.

Play Ball!

Atlanta Braves

2008 Record: 72-90 (.444)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 79-83 (.488)

Manager: Bobby Cox
General Manager: Frank Wren

Home Ballpark: Turner Field (99/99)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

• Casey Kotchman replaces Mark Teixeira
• Jordan Schafer replaces Gregor Blanco (minors)
• Garret Anderson replaces Mark Kotsay
• Matt Diaz reclaims his playing time from Josh Anderson
• Clint Sammons replaces Corky Miller
• Derek Lowe replaces Tim Hudson and Mike Hampton
• Javier Vazquez replaces Jo-Jo Reyes (minors) and Chuck James
• Kenshin Kawakami replaces Jorge Campillo (bullpen)
• Tom Glavine replaces Charlie Morton (DL)
• Rafael Soriano replaces Manny Acosta (minors)
• Peter Moylan replaces Julian Tavarez and Vladimir Nuñez
• Eric O’Flaherty replaces Will Ohman

25-man Roster:

1B – Casey Kotchman (L)
2B – Kelly Johnson (L)
SS – Yunel Escobar (R)
3B – Chipper Jones (S)
C – Brian McCann (L)
RF – Jeff Francoeur (R)
CF – Jordan Schafer (L)
LF – Garret Anderson (L)

Bench:

R – Matt Diaz (OF)
R – Martin Prado (2B/3B)
R – Omar Infante (UT)
S – Greg Norton (OF/1B)
R – Clint Sammons (C)

Rotation:

R – Derek Lowe
R – Jair Jurrjens
R – Javier Vazquez
R – Kenshin Kawakami

Bullpen:

L – Mike Gonzalez
R – Rafael Soriano
R – Peter Moylan
R – Blaine Boyer
R – Buddy Carlyle
R – Jeff Bennett
L – Eric O’Flaherty
R – Jorge Campillo

60-day DL: RHP – Tim Hudson (TJ)
15-day DL: LHP – Tom Glavine (shoulder), RHP – Charlie Morton (oblique), C – David Ross (groin)

Projected lineup:

R – Yunel Escobar (SS)
L – Kelly Johnson (2B)
S – Chipper Jones (3B)
L – Brian McCann (C)
L – Garrett Anderson (LF)
R – Jeff Francoeur (RF)
L – Casey Kotchman (1B)
L – Jordan Schafer (CF)

Notes: Matt Diaz is expected to platoon with Garret Anderson in left field. The Braves won’t need a fifth starter until April 18 and should have Tom Glavine back by then; if not, Jorge Campillo will move back into the rotation.

***

Philadelphia Phillies

2008 Record: 92-70 (.568)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 93-69 (.574)

Manager: Charlie Manuel
General Manager: Ruben Amaro Jr.

Home Ballpark: Citizens Bank Park (103/102)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

• Ruben Amaro Jr. replaces Pat Gillick
• Raul Ibañez replaces Pat Burrell
• Matt Stairs replaces Geoff Jenkins
• Miguel Cairo replaces So Taguchi
• Joe Blanton replaces Adam Eaton
• Chan Ho Park replaces Kyle Kendrick (minors)
• Scott Eyre replaces Rudy Seanez
• Jack Taschner is filling in for J.C. Romero (suspension)

25-man Roster:

1B – Ryan Howard (L)
2B – Chase Utley (L)
SS – Jimmy Rollins (S)
3B – Pedro Feliz (R)
C – Carlos Ruiz (R)
RF – Jayson Werth (R)
CF – Shane Victorino (S)
LF – Raul Ibañez (L)

Bench:

L – Greg Dobbs (3B)
L – Matt Stairs (OF/1B)
R – Chris Coste (C/1B)
R – Eric Bruntlett (UT)
R – Miguel Cairo (UT)

Rotation:

L – Cole Hamels
R – Brett Myers
L – Jamie Moyer
R – Joe Blanton
R – Chan Ho Park

Bullpen:

R – Brad Lidge
R – Ryan Madson
L – Scott Eyre
R – Clay Condrey
R – Chad Durbin
L – Jack Taschner
L – J.A. Happ

15-day DL: LHP – Mike Zagurski (TJ)
Restricted List: LHP – J.C. Romero (PEDs)

Projected lineup:

S – Jimmy Rollins (SS)
S – Shane Victorino (CF)
L – Chase Utley (2B)
L – Ryan Howard (1B)
R – Jayson Werth (RF)
L – Raul Ibañez (LF)
R – Pedro Feliz (3B)
R – Carlos Ruiz (C)

Notes: Greg Dobbs will continue to platoon with Pedro Feliz at third base. Jayson Werth, however, is now the everyday right fielder. J.C. Romero is serving a 50-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Romero claims the positive result was triggered by a legal suplement he bought at GNC which was cleared by the Phillies’ traning staff, but dropped his appeal of the suspension in January.