Matsui-Mania Wakes Up the Yankees

Hideki Matsui stood at home plate, received a samurai helmet called the Kabuto, and raised the gold and red armor high for the crowd to see. The New York Yankees’ traditional domination had been restored.

Matsui rocked the Tokyo Dome with a two-run homer, thrilling the Japanese fans who worship him. Jorge Posada hit three-run shots from both sides of the plate, Kevin Brown won his first start in pinstripes and the Yankees calmed their jittery supporters back home by routing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 12-1, Wednesday.

“Hopefully, we can have many more games like this,” Matsui told the cheering crowd from a podium near home plate after the game.

After a listless 8-3 loss on opening day, fans in New York who got up at 5 a.m. had been infuriated, expecting greatness from their heroes, not grogginess. And then the Yankees fell behind Wednesday in the first inning when Aubrey Huff hit an RBI single.

Owner George Steinbrenner took the first loss calmly, saying, “It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”

But an 0-2 trip might have led to a different tune.

“It wouldn’t be fun. In fact, I made a comment when we were down, 1-0, in the first,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “I felt a little tenseness in there. I said, ‘Guys, what’s the worst thing that can happen? We lose 162 games, big deal. We can still eat, and you’re still going to get paid.’ ”

But a day after Tampa Bay surprised New York, the Yankee offense restored the old order in another game that started before dawn in New York.

Matsui tied the game with an RBI single in the third. Tony Clark put New York ahead with a two-run homer in the fourth. Then, in the fifth, came the moment fans wanted to see.

Matsui, a home-run hero during 10 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants, teed off on a belt-high pitch from Jeremi Gonzalez, sending it deep into the seats in right-center.

Cameras flashed. Fans jumped and stayed up for a standing ovation, a rarity in Japan. Some of the spectators repeatedly bowed to Matsui. The ovation was prolonged, as if fans were trying to get him to come out for a curtain call. But Matsui, always modest, didn’t leave the dugout.

“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez said. “Who knows when the Yankees are going to come back? It’s a pretty special moment.”

Rodriguez came a few feet short of a grand slam in the seventh. The American League’s reigning most valuable player had another quiet night in his second game for New York, going 0 for 5. He had one hit in four at-bats Tuesday.

Derek Jeter got his first hit, an RBI single in the seventh, after going hitless in his first seven at-bats.

“I was in there saying, ‘I’m the last one without a hit,’ ” he said.

Matsui had another chance to come up big in the seventh when he batted with the bases loaded, but the left fielder struck out against Trever Miller.

Posada, meanwhile, homered right-handed off Damian Moss in the fifth and left-handed against Jorge Sosa in the seventh. It was the fifth time he homered from both sides in the same game, the first since June 28, 2002, against the New York Mets.