Tribe wins in N.Y. stadium debut

By PAUL HOYNES

NEW YORK — At the end of the second inning, while Kelly Shoppach was running off the field after drawing his first walk of the season, the guy who walked him, CC Sabathia, yelled, “Swing the bat.”

Shoppach laughed and said, Throw me a strike.”

In the first inning, Victor Martinez, who caught Sabathia in the minors and through most of his seven years in Cleveland, stepped into the batter’s box to face the man he considers one of his best friends. He tipped his batting helmet. Sabathia tipped his cap in recognition.

“I have no words to describe the feeling,” said Martinez.

Let’s just call it strange.

It’s a good way to describe the day as well. It ended with the Indians beating the Yankees, 10-2, to ruin the opening of their new $1.5 billion baseball palace. It’s the first time the Indians have scored double figures in the Bronx since they handed the Yankees their worst loss in franchise history, 22-0, on Sept. 1, 2004.

The slow-starting Indians are still an unglamorous 3-7, but have won two games in a row for the first time this season.

Thursday’s game was supposed to be a Cy Young showdown between last year’s winner, Cliff Lee, and his former teammate, Sabathia, who won the award in 2007. The backdrop was going to be the opening of new Yankee Stadium, which on the inside looks a lot like old Yankee Stadium.

The showdown could only be rated as average and ended after six innings. It was mostly a demonstration of how to pitch into trouble and out of it against two patient lineups. The ballpark itself sparkled, but not quite as much as the Indians’ nine-run seventh inning. It featured a double and homer by Martinez, a two-run double by Jhonny Peralta and a grand slam by Grady Sizemore.

Just before Martinez homered into the left-field seats for the final run of the inning, the crowd of 48,271 started chanting, ‘We want Swisher!’ Nick Swisher, who started in right field for the Yankees, pitched a scoreless inning Monday in a 15-5 loss to Tampa Bay. He may have been better than Jose Veras and Damaso Marte, who combined to allow nine runs on five hits in the seventh.

The nine-run inning made Lee (1-2, 6.75) a winner. He struck out four, walked three and allowed one run in six innings. The big number was 10, the number of Yankees he stranded in the first five innings.

“That’s the Cliff Lee we saw last year,” said Sizemore.

Lee was more than happy to take the victory, but he wasn’t overly impressed with himself. Or with Sabathia, for that matter.

Sabathia, who left with the score tied, 1-1, allowed one run on five hits in 5 innings. He stranded seven runners through five innings, but the Indians squeezed him for 122 pitches.