Chien-Ming Wang proved his place as the New York Yankees’ ace of 2008. Tonight, on the night of the last ever (old) Yankee Stadium home opener, Wang went 7 innings strong striking out only 2 but giving up just 6 hits and 2 earned runs. Toronto Blue Jays’ starting pitcher Roy Halladay was just barely outdueled; Halladay went 7 innings as well giving up 7 hits and 3 runs, all of which earned. Mariano Rivera notched his first save of the 2008 season, striking out one.

The Yankees’ scored in the 1st, 6th and 7th innings. In the first inning Alex Rodriguez doubled to deep center field, knocking in right fielder Bobby Abreu. In the 6th, Melky Cabrera hit a home run, followed the next inning with a fielders choice from Hideki Matsui, driving in a run. Each of the Jay runs results from ground balls, one from Shannon Stewart (Making his Blue Jays debut) and one from temporary third baseman Marco Scutaro.

Tomorrow Yankees’ pitcher Mike Mussina will do battle with oft-injured Jays pitcher AJ Burnett. Last season, Mussina was 11-10 with a 5.15 ERA, while Burnett managed a 10-8 record with a 3.75 ERA.