The game started off well for the home team as Andy Pettitte made the start and looked very sharp early on.  He was starting his 4th home opener and was 3-0 in his previous ones.  He gave up a leadoff single but then struck out Bobby Abreu and got Torii Hunter to fly out to center field.  Hideki Matsui stepped up to the plate and got a standing ovation; he stepped out of the batters’ box and waved his helmet to the crowd.  Andy Pettitte got him to strike out to end the inning.  Nick Johnson in his first at bat at the new Yankee Stadium sure seemed to like it right away as he deposited the ball into the right field stands for a quick 1-0 Yankees lead.  Andy Pettitte did seem to have runners on all the time but as has been his trademark throughout his career he has been able to wiggle out of trouble when he needs to.  He pitched 6 innings giving up 0 runs on 5 hits, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts.  His best work may have come in the 5th inning when it was second and third one out and he got Bobby Abreu to pop out to second and then got a ground out to short to strand the runners.  In his last inning the 6th he had 1st and 3rd and got Howie Kendrick to ground into a inning ending double play.

The Yankees extended their lead in the 3rd when Derek Jeter hit a solo homerun to make it 2-0.  The Yankees added another run in the 4th to make it 3-0.  The Yankees broke open the game in the bottom of the 6th when Swisher and Johnson walked and Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez singled to make it 4-0.  Marc Bulger was brought into the game after the 2 walks and he had a rude welcome to the game.  He got out of the inning by getting Robinson Cano to pop out.  Chan Ho Park pitched the 7th and 8th inning giving up a solo homerun.  Nick Swisher made the defensive play of the game in the 7th when he was running towards the line and made a diving catch and then rolled over.  Chan Ho Park gave up 2 hits and the 1 run in his 2 innings of work.  The Yankees tacked on a couple of more runs in the 8th to make it 7-1 and Dave Robertson came on to close out the game.  He wasn't able to do so though as he gave up a grand slam to Bobby Abreu to make it 7-5 and Mariano Rivera came in to get the last 2 outs for the victory and the save.  He made sure that this memorable day would remain that way with a win. 

The offensive stars of the game were Jorge Posada who had 3 hits and a rbi and also passed Mickey Mantle for 7th place on the all time Yankees double list.  Derek Jeter had 2 hits and 2 rbi and so did Alex Rodriguez.  Robinson Cano had 2 more hits to continue his hot hitting and Curtis Granderson had 2 hits and a rbi to have a successful home debut.  Nick Swisher did not get a hit but drew 3 walks and Brett Gardner also drew a walk. 

The two teams will play game 2 of their 3 game series tomorrow afternoon and then complete the series on Thursday night.  The Yankees are now 5-2 on the season.  Andy Pettitte is now 4-0 in his career in Yankee home openers.