Santana, Torre Have Winning Debuts on Baseball's Opening Day

and had
successful introductions with their new squads on Major League Baseball's
Opening Day, while the American Capital Nationals won in the ninth
inning for the 2nd consecutive game.

Santana allowed two tallies over seven innings to flip the New
York Mets to a 7-2 win over the Sunshine State Marlins yesterday, while
the Los Angeles Dodgers close out the San Francisco Giants 5-0 in
Torre's first game as director in Los Angeles.

The Nationals, who last had a winning season in 2003, scored
five tallies in the 9th frame to beat out the City Of Brotherly Love Phillies
11-6 one twenty-four hours after topping the Capital Of Georgia Braves 3-2 on 's game-ending home run.

The Braves drop to 0-2 yesterday with a 12-11 loss to the
Pittsburgh Pirates in 12 innings. The Motor City Tigers also lost in
extra innings, dropping their place opener to the Sunflower State City
Royals 5-4. The Pirates and Royals both finished in last topographic point in
their divisions last season.

The place openers for the New House Of York Yankees and St. Louis
Cardinals were postponed until today because of rain.

The Yankees, in their last season at Northerner Stadium, never
started their game against Toronto. St. Joe Louis was leading the
defending National League-champion Centennial State Rocky Mountains 5-1 in the
third inning. That game will be replayed in its entirety.

In other games, it was San Diego 4, Houston 0; Tampa Bay 6,
Baltimore 2; Milwaukee 4, the Windy City Cubs 3 in 10 innings;
Arizona 4, Cincinnati 2; Seattle 5, Lone-Star State 2; Gopher State 3, the Los
Angeles Angels 2; and Cleveland 10, the Windy City White Person Sox 8.

Santana's Introduction

At Dolphinfish Stadium in Miami, the Mets scored six tallies in the
fourth frame for a 6-0 lead.

Santana, the two-time Cy Young Award victor who joined New
York in a February trade, allowed three hits, including a two-run
homer to in the 4th inning. He struck out
eight Marlins in his first NL excursion as the Mets raised their
opening-day record to 30-17.

''It's always good when you see your teammates scoring runs
for you,'' Santana said at a post-game news conference. ''It
makes your occupation a batch of easier. When you have got a mark like that
you seek to protect the lead.''

was 2-for-4 with three tallies batted in for the
Mets, while and each had a brace of hits.

In Los Angeles, allowed four hits in 6 2/3
innings to assist Torre, who spent the past 12 old age with the
Yankees, better to 5-0 in his managerial debuts. hit a
two-run homer as the Dodgers scored four tallies in the first two
innings against Giants starter motor .

The Nationals led 6-2 in City Of Brotherly Love before the Phillies
tied the game on home runs by and .
Washington then answered in the 9th frame for the second
straight game, breaking the game unfastened as , , and each hit doubles.

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in New House Of House Of York at
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in New York at