Pregame jitters, emotional tributes and packed stadiums. Baseball was back, from coast-to-coast Monday.
"Opening day," said Ben Sheets, Milwaukee's ace right-hander. "I've got a sumo wrestler wrestling in my belly. I was nervous."
At sold-out Yankee Stadium, the Yankees honored Cory Lidle by wearing black armbands, welcomed back announcer and former outfielder Bobby Murcer, who's fighting brain cancer, and held a moment of silence for former star Hank Bauer and baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, both of whom died recently.
"Everybody had a lump in their throat before the game," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
'You couldn't help but choke up."
Jason Giambi, who hit a go-ahead single in the seventh for his third RBI, was a big part of the poignant pregame ceremonies. After a touching video tribute to Lidle, Giambi escorted the pitcher's wife, Melanie, and 6-year-old son, Christopher, toward the mound before they threw out first pitches.
Lidle and Giambi were old friends and high school teammates. The 34-year-old right-hander Lidle was killed in a plane crash Oct. 11 in New York after finishing last season with the Yankees. His locker at Yankee Stadium will remain unoccupied all season.
"That was probably one of the single hardest things I've had to do in my life," Giambi said.
In Philadelphia, a sellout crowd of 44,742 turned out for the fourth season opener at Citizens Bank Park and couldn't help but get teary-eyed during a tribute for longtime coach and former player John Vukovich; former All-Star outfielder Johnny Callison; former pitching coach Vern Ruhle; Lidle, a former Phillies pitcher; and longtime organist Paul Richardson.
"VUK" was painted inside the third-base coaching box to honor Vukovich, who passed away last month. Vukovich's son, Vince, threw out the first pitch before the Phillies lost to Atlanta 5-3 in 10 innings.
In Detroit, the Tigers raised the 2006 AL pennant up a center-field flag pole between the franchise's four championship banners. Fireworks were set off to commemorate the moment for Detroit fans, who hadn't seen a Tigers team make the World Series since 1984.
"I definitely wanted to see the city get a chance to take the celebration of opening day and extend it throughout the day," Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson said.
He couldn't make it happen, as Toronto beat Detroit 5-3 in 10 innings and spoiled the festivities.
"I'm sure the crowd is disappointed. I'm disappointed, too," manager Jim Leyland said. "We wanted to get a win for them, but we've got 161 games to go. I'm always glad to get opening day behind us. We handled it well. We just got beat."
Fredi Gonzalez won in his first game as Florida's manager, beating Washington and Manny Acta 9-2 in a matchup of rookie skippers. Gonzalez (Cuba) and Acta (Dominican Republic) were the first pair of managers born outside the United States to make their major league debuts in the same game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"It was fun. It was great," said Acta, who celebrated the victory with champagne. "It was everything I expected it to be."
Acta took the loss in his first game in stride.
"We're tied for second, with the rest of the league who lost today. It's just one game," said Acta, who coached third base for the Mets in 2005-06.
Sheets was nearly untouchable, giving up an early home run to Jeff Kent before retiring the next 22 batters in a two-hitter — a 7-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He pitched the first opening-day complete game of two hits or fewer in 15 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last to do it was Tom Glavine with a two-hitter for Atlanta against Houston in 1992.
Sheets has made only 39 starts in the past two seasons for the Brewers because of injuries.
"I'm happy finally, hopefully, that now I don't have to continue answering questions about Ben Sheets' health," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "I think we all saw it for ourselves today."
It was a glum opening day for the Chicago Cubs, who were surprised by news hours before their opener that Tribune Co. plans to sell the team at the end of the season. New manager Lou Piniella held a team meeting and told his players not to let it distract them.
Instead, Dunn homered twice to help the Cincinnati Reds power past the Cubs with a 5-1 victory.
"We are going to get off to a fast start," an optimistic Piniella said.
The baseball season actually got started Sunday night, when St. Louis hoisted the World Series flag and then lost 6-1 to the New York Mets — the team it beat in the NL championship series before blowing out Detroit for the title.
With 26 other teams starting Monday, that left the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres as the only squads yet to get their seasons under way. They'll play Tuesday, when Barry Bonds resumes his chase for Hank Aaron's home run record.