Red Sox beat defending champ Yankees on opening night

The Boston Red Sox got their season off on a winning note by beating the New York Yankees 9-7 as the two MLB heavyweights met in the first night opener of the 98-year-old Fenway Park.

Kevin Youkilis scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball after his third extra-base hit and the Red Sox rallied to beat the 9-7 in the only game of opening night.

Boston erased a 5-1 deficit against CC Sabathia and defeated the defending World Series champions.

Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson hit back-to-back homers off Red Sox ace Josh Beckett to give New York a two run lead in the second.

It was 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh when Boston's Marco Scutaro singled and Dustin Pedroia tied it with an opening-day homer for the second consecutive season.

Youkilis doubled with two outs, took third on a New York wild pitch and scored when Posada couldn't handle another high pitch.

Major League Baseball begins again in earnest on Monday with a full schedule of games.

US President Barack Obama is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Washington Nationals host the NL champion Philadelphia Phillies.

"I'm going to be warming him up," Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez said of baseball's First Fan. "I'm going to take a picture with him, if he'll let me. It'll be exciting."

In Cincinnati, the boos could come cascading down for disgraced St. Louis hitting coach Mark McGwire who admitted over the winter to using steroids and human growth hormone during his career.

"It's going to be really good," said McGwire. "The potential of this team is really, really good."