Braves dominate Phillies in season opener  —  Lowe pitched eight scoreless innings; McCann, Francoeur and rookie Schafer homer  —  Philadelphia — Yes, it was only the first game of 162.  But on Sunday night, the Braves provided a few reasons to believe things might be different this season.

Minor League Transactions  —  This time: March 31-April 3 … Arizona Diamondbacks  —  Signed: RHP Bobby Korecky, LHP Travis Blackley  —  Released: RHP Adam Howard, RHP A.J. Shappi, LHP Eddie Romero, C Richard Mercado, C Bill Musselman, 3B Steve Mena, 3B Cesar Nicolas, OF Frank Curreri, OF Jimmy Principe

Opener postponed until tomorrow  —  Due to a forecast of heavy rain in the Boston area, today's Red Sox-Rays season opener at Fenway Park has been postponed to tomorrow at 4:05 p.m.  —  “All of the festivities surrounding Opening Day will take place tomorrow,” Red Sox president Larry Lucchino confirmed …

A-ROD RETURN MAY NOT HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL MAY  —  BALTIMORE — Forget mid-May.  Alex Rodriguez is showing signs he is going to return to the Yankees well before that.  —  Hitting coach Kevin Long, who speaks daily with A-Rod, told The Post that Rodriguez has begun to hit and reported that he “feels 70 percent.”

Why baseball benched Microsoft Silverlight  —  The thwacking sounds of bats striking balls will once again fill stadiums, as Monday is opening day for Major League Baseball.  This year, Microsoft will watch from the sidelines.  —  MLB.com no longer uses Microsoft's Silverlight to stream games to its 500,000 subscribers.

Incredible shrinking payroll: 14 of 30 MLB teams cut back  —  Fourteen of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball will have a lower opening-day payroll than a year ago, according to USA TODAY's annual salary survey.  —  Ten of the 14 teams are cutting their 25-man-roster budget by at least $10 million.

What's cooking  —  Is faith in Murphy a sign of organizational enlightenment?  —  It's Opening Day and I'm revved up.  —  There's all the usual Christmas-in-April stuff, complete with a sleepless Sunday night spent wondering what the 2009 baseball season has in store for my Flushing Nine …

Peavy likely will be gone if Padres get off to bad start  —  The backdrop to a Padres season that begins today at Petco Park is that if the team falls out of playoff contention, Jake Peavy could be traded before or shortly after the All-Star break, perhaps to the Dodgers club that opposes Peavy this afternoon.

Offseason In Review: Milwaukee Brewers  —  Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Brewers.  Here's what we wrote about them on October 16th.  Changes for 2009:  —  Additions: Trevor Hoffman, Braden Looper, Jorge Julio, R.J. Swindle, Chase Wright, Craig Counsell (re-signed) …

Surprise?  Stewart gets opening-day start  —  Phoenix — Looking for maximum firepower - as well as another left-handed bat in the lineup against Diamondbacks ace sinkerballer Brandon Webb - Ian Stewart gets the start at second base in today's season-opener.  He replaces usual second baseman Clint Barmes.

Pitching plans  —  The Sox were clearly prepared for this rainout.  They had already said that if today's game were postponed, they would flip-flop Josh Beckett and Brad Penny this weekend with the sudden need for a fifth starter.  —  So Penny will start on Saturday, with Beckett taking the finale of the series in Anaheim, Calif.

Acta announces starting lineup for Opening Day  —  About an hour after addressing his team, Nationals manager Manny Acta announced his starting lineup for Opening Day against the Marlins.  —  1. Lastings Milledge — CF  —  2. Cristian Guzman — SS  —  3. Ryan Zimmerman — 3B  —  4. Adam Dunn — LF

Madden: Lou's heart is always in the Bronx  —  It was hard to tell what impressed Lou Piniella more in his nostalgic two-day stop at his old South Bronx stomping grounds - the new Yankee Stadium or the Yankees themselves.  —  Sitting behind his desk in the new Stadium's visiting clubhouse Saturday morning …