Yankees 2012 Home Opener Preview

After opening the 2012 MLB regular season with six games in Tampa Bay and Baltimore, the New York Yankees are finally playing their home opener at the new Yankee Stadium this afternoon. The opponent is certainly no slouch: the much-improved Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, featuring free agent acquisitions Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson.

Today is the Bronx debut for Hiroki Kuroda, who struggled a lot during his Yankee debut last Saturday in Tampa Bay, giving up four runs over 5 2/3 innings. He'll go up against Ervin Santana, who also struggled in his first outing of the season, allowing five runs over 5 2/3 innings in a home loss against Kansas City.

The big news entering today's game for the Yankees is that Joe Girardi has made an important change to the starting lineup, moving Alex Rodriguez to third in the batting order to separate lefties Curtis Granderson (batting second) and Robinson Cano (batting fourth). As for the Angels, all eyes will be on Albert Pujols. He will play his first game in the Bronx since 2003, when the Cardinals visited old Yankee Stadium.

Don't forget to catch all the action from today's game, as well as every other Yankees game throughout the 2012 MLB season on 104.5 "The Team" ESPN Radio! The first pitch this afternoon will be around 1:05.