Andra and I returned from Milwaukee in time to catch most of Sunday night’s Opening Day matchup between the Yankees and the Red Sox. I’m happy to report that for all of the distasteful stuff that went on over the past six months — the Yankees’ blown 3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series, the subsequent Red Sox World Championship, the verbal jabs exchanged between the two teams in the aftermath, the leaked Jason Giambi BALCO testimony, the uneven roster remake undertaken by the Yanks, the continuing ability of Curt Schilling to suck the oxygen out of whatever room he’s in — and for all of my own pessimism vis à vis these two teams, the game was a pleasure to watch, even moreso to see the Yanks prevail, 9-2. Our long national nightmare is over. Opening Day has arrived, and with it, a shot at redemption for the Yankees.

I tuned in just in time to catch the Yanks mounting their third inning rally against David Wells to break a 1-1 tie. The Fat Man, who usually brings his A-game to Yankee Stadium no matter what uniform he’s wearing, was a complete basket case at that point, yielding a pair of doubles to Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield, a couple of singles here and there, and plunking Jason Giambi on the arm. To top it all of, he balked in a run with the bases loaded, capping a three-run rally.

Wells departed with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, having allowed 10 hits and letting 13 of 26 hitters faced reach base. Adding insult to injury, he received an earful of jeers from a Stadium crowd which once revered him. Writes Jack Curry in the New York Times:

Wells might have been the only person within 100 miles of the stadium who thought that the reception would be warmer. Wells said he had hoped the fans in the right-field bleachers would include him in their roll call, as they had done when he visited with the San Diego Padres or the Toronto Blue Jays. Forget about it.

While Wells dug his cleats into the pitching rubber during the fifth inning, killing time when Manager Terry Francona came out to remove him, boos escalated into a roar. If any fan dreamed of giving Wells a courtesy clap for four successful years here, he would have been drowned out.

…Wells took one peek into the stands when his miserable night ended after four and a third innings, absorbed what it was like to be a villain here and lowered his head. He looked wounded and frustrated after surrendering 4 runs and 10 hits.

Wells thought he was returning to a place where everyone knew his name and everyone loved his game. But that was then.

Wells inched across the line separating New York and New England when he signed with the Red Sox and he is now Boom-ah, with a derogatory drawl, not Boomer, with a lovable laugh.

“The reception I got tonight obviously wasn’t good,” Wells said. “It’s funny how a season changes. You got a Padre uniform, you get cheered. You got a Boston, you get booed.”

Even as somebody who’s given Boomer more sympathy than most — I participated in the hearty ovation he received as a Padre last summer — I had to chuckle at Boomer’s naïvete. Love for a guy wearing Red Sox, even one whose uniform number was in tribute to Babe Ruth (not that the Bambino ever actually wore the number for the Sox)? Fuggedaboutit.

Boomer aside, top billing for the evening went to Randy Johnson, making his debut in the tallest set of pinstripes ever issued. From what I saw, the Big Ugly was very good but short of dominant, allowing five hits and one run in his six innings of work while striking out six. Even given my reservations about this team, watching him pitch had my blood pumping. “Sit down, bitch!” I heard myself hollering as David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez both struck out looking at various times. From the other room, Andra could only laugh at my animated behavior. I was in midseason form.

For all of the Unit’s success in his debut, the most dominant pitcher on the night appeared to be his successor, Tanyon Sturtze. A middling middleman who put up an unsightly 5.47 ERA last year, Sturtze came on strong down the stretch — 14.2 scoreless innings, mostly against the Sox and the Twins — thanks to a cut fastball learned from the master of that pitch, Mariano Rivera. The new weapon hasn’t deserted him yet, apparently, as he struck out Bill Mueller looking and then Mark Bellhorn swinging to start the seventh, then whiffed Ortiz looking to end the eighth. Not too shabby.

Also notable last night was what went on at first base for the Yanks. Giambi, making his first regular-season appearance since the BALCO admissions, reportedly drew an ovation from the crowd after singling in his first at bat. He was hit by Wells twice, neither time to much effect, and departed after six in favor of Tino Martinez. Playing in pinstripes for the first time since the World Series of 2001, Tino drew the night’s biggest ovation when he dove to snag a sharp liner down the first base line, then threw to first base for the out. He’d have certainly received a curtain call from the crowd of 54,818 were it not for the seventh-inning stretch which immediately followed. Martinez has his limitations as a hitter, but he can certainly pick it, and it was impossible not to feel good for the reception he got upon his return to the Bronx.

In the late innings, the Yanks rung up the score against a soggy parade of Sox relievers. Alan Embree and Mike Timlin were their usual surly selves, but Matt Mantei yielded a two-run jack to Hideki Matsui, and an error by his successor, John Halama, scored another run later in the inning to push the Yankee advantage to 9-1. Tom Gordon gave up a garbage-time run in the ninth, but it could hardly put a damper on this damp affair. There are still 161 games to go, but for one night, it felt like old times for the Yanks pushing around the Sox.

I was pretty far from the action compared to my man Cliff Corcoran, who braved the rain to sit in the rightfield bleachers. Head to Bronx Banter to check his report (complete with scorecard and mash notes to 25th man Andy Phillips, a late add to the roster with Kevin Brown doing what Kevin Brown does best, going on the DL with a balky back).

My own first trip to the Stadium is supposed to happen later this week — I’ve tickets to either Tuesday or Wedesday’s game, but I haven’t gotten my hands on them yet to confirm which date. Last night’s game and an afternoon spent flipping around my new Extra Innings package has me antsy to go. Play ball!