A loooooong first

We’re underway here at Legends Field.

Aki Iwamura slapped the first pitch from Mike Mussina to left field for a base hit, but was quickly erased on Carl Crawford’s grounder to second.

Carlos Pena looks at strike three.

Crawford, who said he wants to be a better base stealer this season, steals second and then third. B.J. Upton, who drew a two-out walk with C.C. on second, stays at first.

That non-move could have cost the Rays a run had Cliff Floyd singled. It didn’t matter, though, because Floyd looked at strike three.

The wind is blowing out to right, so naturally, the first two hits of the game are to left field.

Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon follows Aki’s lead and slaps the ball to left field. Damon’s hugs the line for a two-base hit.

Derek Jeter steps to the plate. A quick glance at the TV monitor and I learned that Jeter has the most hits of any major leaguer over the past 10 years. Interesting. No hit here, though. Jeter bounced to shortstop and Damon crossed to third.

The Rays bring the infield in as Bobby Abreu steps to the plate. I remember when Abreu played for Kissimmee in the Florida State League and his name was Bob Abreu, pronounced A-brew.

Bobby walks.

First and third and one out and here comes A-Rod.

A-Rod walks to load them up.

Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey pays Garza a visit.

Here comes Jason Giambi with the bases loaded.

Whatever Hickey told Garza must have worked. He caught Giambi looking.

Robinson Cano steps in.

Garza gets out of the jam by getting Cano to chase a pitch out of the strike zone on a 3-2 count.

The first inning took 32 minutes.

There were 52 pitches, two hits, three walks, two stolen bases and no runs.