MIAMI — Johan Santana insisted he was a bit nervous in the moments before his highly anticipated debut with the New York Mets.
Didn't look it, not one bit.
Santana struck out eight in seven dominant innings, David Wright hit a three-run double and New York opened its season with a 7-2 win Monday over the Florida Marlins.
"It's always good to get the first one out of the way," Santana said. "I wasn't trying to put anything in my head or anything. Just another game, another opening day, different uniform, lot of expectations. But I felt good."
If only the Mets had Santana (1-0) last September, when they blew a seven-game lead in the NL East with 17 games left. The collapse became complete when the Marlins scored seven times off Tom Glavine in the first inning on the season's final day.
But Santana — who was traded to the Mets from Minnesota this winter and signed a $137.5 million, six-year contract — dazzled Monday from beginning to end. The two-time Cy Young winner struck out Hanley Ramirez to begin the game and Matt Treanor to end his outing, allowed only three hits in between.
"Off to a good start," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Santana was outstanding today. He was pounding the zone all day and I thought he threw even better than he looked, because he threw a lot of strikes and balls were kind of borderline that he didn't get. But he made pitches when he had to and it's nice to have the big horse start things for you."
Wright and Carlos Beltran each doubled twice for the Mets. Jose Reyes added two hits for New York, which has now won 30 of its last 39 openers.
Josh Willingham hit a two-run home run for Florida.
"We got the home run off him," Willingham said, "but that was about it."
The Mets took command with their biggest inning on an opening day, scoring six runs in the fourth against Mark Hendrickson (0-1), capped by Wright's three-run double to the left-center field wall.
Beltran led off the inning with a double and Angel Pagan, Mets newcomer Ryan Church and Reyes hit RBI singles. A walk to Luis Castillo loaded the bases for Wright, who began the game with a career .462 average in that situation.
No surprise, then, that his liner rolled all the way to the left-center field wall, giving the Mets a 6-0 lead. The Mets' previous biggest burst in an opener was five runs in the seventh inning in a win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 5, 1979.
"I was looking for a fastball," Wright said. "He was very sneaky. His fastball got on you a little bit — but that one was left over the middle of the plate."
DODGERS 5, GIANTS 0: At Los Angeles, Joe Torre was victorious in his debut as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Brad Penny allowed four hits over 6 2/3 innings in his first opening-day start, Jeff Kent hit a two-run homer off Barry Zito and the Dodgers blanked San Francisco.
NATIONALS 11, PHILLIES 6: At Philadelphia, the Washington Nationals took their late-inning act on the road.
Nick Johnson's tiebreaking RBI double off Tom Gordon highlighted a five-run ninth inning and the Nationals beat the Phillies.
BREWERS 4, CUBS 3 (10 INNINGS): At Chicago, the start of the Cubs' 100th season since winning the World Series ended like so many seasons at Wrigley Field — with a loss. Tony Gwynn hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and Milwaukee edged Chicago.
Kosuke Fukudome went 3-for-3, hitting a tying, three-run homer in the ninth off Eric Gagne (1-0), but it wasn't enough for the Cubs, who haven't even reached the World Series since 1945.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, REDS 2: At Cincinnati, the defending NL West champions opened the season the way they spent much of the last one: winning a close one.
Brandon Webb pitched six innings, and the light-hitting Diamondbacks piled up three solo homers in a victory that dampened Dusty Baker's debut as the Cincinnati Reds' manager.
PIRATES 12, BRAVES 11 (12 INNINGS): At Atlanta, Tom Glavine's homecoming was long forgotten by the time Pittsburgh finally got the win.
Xavier Nady hit his second homer of the game, a three-run shot in the 12th inning, and Pittsburgh overcame a horrific ninth to ruin Atlanta's home opener.
PADRES 4, ASTROS 0: At San Diego, Jake Peavy beat his buddy Roy Oswalt with his bat as well as his arm.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner hit an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, and pitched seven innings of three-hit ball to lead the Padres past Houston.
American League
ROYALS 5, TIGERS 4: At Detroit, the $138 million Tigers opened with a thud.
Tony Pena Jr. hit a two-out, tiebreaking single in the 11th inning and Kansas City held on to beat Detroit in Monday's opener.
RAYS 6, ORIOLES 2: At Baltimore, a whirlwind offseason of change carried over into opening day for Tampa Bay, when the Rays reversed an annoying trend at the expense of the Orioles.
James Shields pitched seven innings of five-hit ball, Eric Hinske homered and the Rays coasted to victory.
Since its inception in 1998, Tampa Bay was 1-9 in road openers, including a seven-game skid that was the longest active run in the big leagues. But things are different this year, beginning with the team's nickname — no longer are they the Devil Rays.
INDIANS 10, WHITE SOX 8: At Cleveland, their ballpark may have a new name. Little else changed about the Cleveland Indians.
The defending AL Central champions won in familiar fashion at Progressive Field — home to so much late-inning drama when it was called Jacobs Field for the past 14 years. Casey Blake hit a three-run double in the eighth inning to give the Indians a season-opening win over the Chicago White Sox.
TWINS 3, ANGELS 2: At Minneapolis, with Torii Hunter watching from the other side, Carlos Gomez made a strong first impression in Minnesota.
Gomez formally replaced Hunter as the Twins' center fielder and raced around the bases, giving Livan Hernandez and the Twins enough offense to beat the Los Angeles Angels Monday night with a snowstorm swirling outside the Metrodome.
MARINERS 5, RANGERS 2: At Seattle, after Erik Bedard left his Mariners' debut, the Mariners' offense woke up.
Adrian Beltre hit a go-ahead groundout in the sixth inning, Jose Lopez had a two-run double in the seventh and Seattle beat Texas.