Tape of Sheppard to introduce Jeter  —  Legendary ‘Voice of Yankee Stadium’ will announce captain  —  NEW YORK — Bob Sheppard's voice will be at Yankee Stadium after all for Monday's season opener, the final Opening Day in the ballpark's history — although he will be heard for just one batter.

Plenty of empty seats for a ‘sellout’  —  The Orioles announced a sellout for their regular-season opener today at Camden Yards, which probably evoked a measure of skepticism from anyone looking for companionship in the upper deck above left field.  —  To be fair, the team is entitled …

Spiezio, cut after offseason troubles, signs minor league deal with Braves  —  ATLANTA (AP)—Scott Spiezio will try to return to the majors with a team that rarely takes a chance on troubled players.  —  Spiezio agreed Monday to a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves …

Wood struggles as Cubs' closer  —  Kerry Wood's debut as the Cubs' closer turned into a nightmare when he gave up three runs in the ninth inning on Opening Day.  —  Hitting Rickie Weeks in the back with his first pitch to lead off the inning began Wood's downfall.  Bob Howry hit Weeks again in the 10th.

Back from D.C. ...  is it opening day?  —  Now that the Braves have done a whirlwind trip to D.C., helped open a new park and provided almost no offensive support for Tim Hudson (sound familiar?), time to open the season for real tonight against the Pirates at Turner Field.  —  What's that?

Concepcion makes trip to see Santana  —  Venezuelan former Reds great an admirer of his countryman  —  MIAMI — Johan Santana's drawing power reached his native Venezuela.  —  One of the most popular players to come out of Venezuela, Dave Concepcion, flew in from his native country specifically to see Santana's debut as a Met.

Saga of No. 21 begins with respect  —  Ensberg defers to O'Neill; Hawkins wears number for Clemente  —  NEW YORK — Twenty-one is one of those numbers that carries a little extra meaning in the eye of the beholder.  It can be blackjack, it's the legal age to buy a beer at Yankee Stadium, and — for many fans — it's Paul O'Neill.

Professor Puts a Face on the Performance of Baseball Managers  —  The baseball season began in earnest this week, with 750 major league players and 2,430 games ready to collide and create countless millions of data — which the game's devotees (who have included Nobel laureates) …

A day of watching baseball on TV  —  Basepath blunders can burst a bubble  —  Weird day, Monday.  —  Rather than joining our corps of reporters in the field, I was put under house arrest by The Guy in the Big Office.  He assigned me to watch as much baseball as possible and see if I could learn something to pass along to readers.

Cubs' Zambrano leaves with forearm cramp  —  CHICAGO (AP)—Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano left Monday's opener against the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh inning with a cramp in his right forearm, right after making a pickoff throw to second base.  —  Milwaukee's Bill Hall hit a one-out double …

FUK U DOME!  Clap Clap ClapClapClap!!!  —  So how about this for an American debut.  3-3, Double, BB, 3 RBIs oh and this....  “A star is born in the teeth of the Lake Michigan wind.”  - Brent Musburger  —  Kerry Wood had tried to blow the game for the Cubs followed in turn by Eric Gagne doing the same for the Brewers.

Yanks pull plug on Joba's radio gig  —  It long has been a battlefield in the local sports talk radio wars: Sign players for paid spots and hope they attract attention (and perhaps listeners), or at least show up on time.  —  Sometimes that means sparks and/or headlines (see Jeremy Shockey …

Happy New Year! (ignore the outcome, concentrate on the fact that there's baseball)  —  Is this the tradition now?  The Tigers enjoy the concept of Opening Day so much that they can't stand the thought of only having 9 innings of it?  Remember last year, which went, what, 10 innings? before Fernando Rodney blew it.

Doing well with homer odyssey  —  LOS ANGELES - Yesterday was odyssey day No. 12, the final day in southern California.  Last night the Red Sox were scheduled to fly to San Francisco.  Their next opener is tomorrow night at Oakland.  Friday they open Rogers Centre in Toronto.