Yankees’ Opener Is Unforgettable

Unforgettable moments and legendary players have given Yankee Stadium 75 years of unrivaled baseball history. Until Friday, though, it had never seen a game quite like this one.

The Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees opened the famed ballpark’s 75th-anniversary season with the highest-scoring game ever played here, a 17-13 Yankee victory that was anything but major-league caliber.

Tino Martinez hit a three-run homer, drove in five runs and scored four to lead New York. The 30 combined runs eclipsed the previous high, a 17-11 win by the Yankees over the Philadelphia Athletics on June 3, 1933.

How ugly was it?

Consider these numbers: 30 runs, 32 hits and four errors. Add to those, 10 pitchers, 18 walks and a 12-run, 23-batter fifth inning. It’s no wonder the seventh-inning stretch received one of the day’s loudest ovations.

“It was not a pretty thing to watch from either side,” Oakland Manager Art Howe said.

With bunting hanging from the upper decks, Yankee great Joe DiMaggio trotted out and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Sadly, the 83-year-old’s offering was closer to the strike zone than many of those thrown by pitchers on either side.

Martinez, who had only one RBI coming into the game, hit his three-run shot in the third to tie the score, 5-5. After Aaron Small walked the bases loaded in the fourth, Darryl Strawberry hit a two-run double, Scott Brosius had a two-run single and the Yankees’ fifth run of the inning scored on Chuck Knoblauch’s fielder’s choice.

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NEXT SERIES FOR ANGELS

WHO: New York Yankees

WHERE: at New York

WHEN: Monday, 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, 10 a.m.