Opening Day

A bit of symmetry. Had the Phillies won the sixth game of last year's World Series, CC was ready to start Game Seven. This was, remember, part of Joe Girardi's gamble, to go with three starters, to stick with CC, AJ and Pettitte and ignore the advice of every retired player and fired manager who claimed Girardi was killing New York's chances by not throwing Mitre or Aceves into the mix. Pettitte closed out Philly, rendering CC's contributions moot . . . so CC's start carried over to tonight. Symmetry.

There was a marvelous rumor over the winter that Joe Morgan was retiring from ESPN. No, too much to ask: there he was tonight, and one could, as an adjunct to the game itself, keep track of his fatuities. Right out of the box: "As soon as A-Rod rejoined the Yankees, they won 90 games and won 44 games." Yes, live TV is what it is, but . . . really, Morgan had six months to plan his preamble. Later, after Posada smacked a homer off Pesky Pole, Morgan seemed not just oblivious but, gosh darn it, downright curious as to who this "Pesky" fellow was.

"How far is that pole?" he asked. "280 feet?" Uh, no, Joe. 302. 302 feet, a figure as familiar to most baseball fans as DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Maybe you forgot your base hit in this park that won the 1975 World Series, being as Miller hasn't mentioned it at all this minute.

Oh yeah, the game. Ahhhhhh, give Morgan this: Girardi stuck with CC precisely because CC had only allowed two runs against a Red Sox lineup as deep as Boston Harbor. Pedroia's walk would have been the hook for all but a dozen major-league pitchers this early, and Morgan was all over it.

5-5 and we go to the seventh.