NEW YORK — Last opener at the old place, first win for Joe Girardi.

Just how the Babe would have wanted it.

Chien-Ming Wang shut down the Toronto Blue Jays for seven innings, making Girardi a winner in his rain-delayed debut as Yankees manager and sending New York to a record-setting 3-2 victory last night.

"It was a big night," Jason Giambi said. "This one is huge."

Back in 1923, Babe Ruth homered in front of 74,200 fans on the day Yankee Stadium opened. This time, it was Melky Cabrera's shot that tied it for New York. And the 84th opener at this storied ballpark ended like so many that came before — with a victory by the home team.

After wet weather postponed the festivities Monday, Wang and the Yankees beat Roy Halladay (0-1) to win their major league-best 11th consecutive home opener. That snapped a tie with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who won 10 in a row from 1945-54, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

With owner George Steinbrenner and his son, Hank, a Yankees general partner, watching from their suite above home plate, Cabrera also made two outstanding catches in center field.

Alex Rodriguez scored on Hideki Matsui's grounder in the seventh, breaking a 2-all tie.

Joba Chamberlain struck out two in a hitless eighth and Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for the save and handed Girardi the souvenir ball from the final out as the sellout crowd of 55,112 roared.

"He just congratulated me and he said that's No. 1 and let's get a lot more," Girardi said. "It's a neat moment for me."

ANGELS 9, TWINS 1: Vladimir Guerrero (3 for 4) and Garret Anderson (3 for 5) combined for five RBIs, Mike Napoli and Casey Kotchman each hit solo homers, and Jon Garland (1-0) gave up a run on six hits over eight innings as visiting Los Angeles struck early to beat Minnesota.

Red Sox 2, Athletics 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed a run and two hits with nine strikeouts and no walks over 6 2/3 innings, and Kevin Youkilis went 3 for 4 with a triple and scored twice to help visiting Boston beat Oakland.

Rangers 5, Mariners 4: Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth off All-Star closer J.J. Putz, leading Texas over Seattle.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 5, METS 4: The Mets' Pedro Martinez left with a strained left hamstring in the fourth inning after just 57 pitches, and Robert Andino, batting after Matt Wise (0-1) struck out the first two to start the bottom of the 10th inning, hit his first career home run to lift Florida..

ROCKIES 2, CARDINALS 1: Third baseman Troy Glaus' throwing error allowed the tying run to score and Jayson Nix walked with two outs and the bases loaded to cap a two-run eighth, helping visiting Colorado begin defense of its NL championship with a victory.

PADRES 2, ASTROS 1: Scott Hairston hit a two-run run homer in the fourth inning and 40-year-old Trevor Hoffman earned his 525th career save, pitching a scoreless ninth inning in host San Diego's victory over Houston.

Dodgers 3, Giants 2: Rafael Furcal scored from second on pinch hitter Delwyn Young's infield hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Los Angeles over San Francisco.

SHORT HOPS

Phillies: Right-hander Rudy Seanez, who was released by the Dodgers last week after spending parts of three seasons with Los Angeles, agreed to a contract with Philadelphia yesterday.

Rays: Carl Crawford's $8.25 million for 2009 was exercised yesterday by Tampa Bay, which declined Rocco Baldelli's $6 million option and agreed to a $10.5 million, three-year deal with reliever Dan Wheeler.

Red Sox: Slowed by back spasms this spring, Boston right-hander Josh Beckett pitched five innings yesterday in an intrasquad game in Fort Myers, Fla., and manager Terry Francona hopes to start his ace Sunday at Toronto.