twins/mlb

TORONTO - It's just one game, with 161 to go. That's the exercise when trying to play down great openings and not worry about stumbling starts.

There's another saying: A team's weaknesses are exposed over a 162-game season. So was the Twins' 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays on Tuesday night the beginning of the exposure? Or perhaps the start of a six-month revisiting of 2005?

Adding Rondell White, Luis Castillo and Tony Batista to the lineup gives the Twins hope that their offense will not rank last in the American League again. While they contributed a little in the opener, Toronto's new look looked better as the Blue Jays thrilled a crowd of 50, 449 with a 14-hit attack and a solid outing by ace Roy Halladay.

The Twins were held to five hits and didn't draw a walk. They committed an error, and their ace, Johan Santana, gave up 10 hits in an outing for the first time since May 23, 2004 -- including a two-run homer to Bengie Molina in the fourth inning.

It was the perfect beginning for the Blue Jays. The Blue Man Group played both national anthems before the game, there were video presentations, loud ovations and fireworks. Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay and Molina made their Blue Jays debuts -- and Toronto got some early returns on its investments.

"Everybody is anxious that first game," White cautioned. "It's like the World Series, that first game, it's so exciting. But it's a long season, dog."

The Twins fell behind 4-1, but Batista homered in the seventh inning and Shannon Stewart homered in the eighth to pull the Twins within 4-3. There was the biggest problem -- the Twins didn't have enough former Blue Jays to hit more homers. It appeared an interesting ninth inning was coming with the Twins' best power hitters -- White, Torii Hunter and Justin Morneau -- facing new Blue Jays closer B.J. Ryan in a one-run game.

But that was squashed in the Blue Jays' eighth. Jesse Crain got two quick outs, but Reed Johnson singled to right and Alex Rios blasted a 2-1 pitch into the seats in right to make it 6-3. It was one of six opposite-field hits by the Blue Jays -- while driving home a point to Crain.

"I should have gotten ahead in the count," he said.

Ryan came on in the ninth to strike out two and earn his first save with his new team, finishing a great opener for the Blue Jays.

"It's always a bonus, because it's not do or die in the first game," said Halladay, who is 5-0 in his career against the Twins. "To be able to pick up the first one is always nice."

The new-look Twins seemed to be up to their old ways at the plate, mustering only four hits against Halladay, who wasn't at his best but was close. The Twins had a few pitches to hit but failed to take advantage of them. That allowed Halladay to win the battle of former Cy Young winners over Santana. Halladay gave up two earned runs over 7 2/3 innings on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts. While Santana needed 98 pitches to get into the sixth, Halladay left after throwing 88 in the eighth. Santana faced the better lineup.

"They got some good swings, and they put the ball in play," Santana said. "When you do that, you have a chance to do some damage."

White, Castillo and Batista didn't make a huge impact on the game. Castillo bunted Stewart to second in the first inning, and Stewart eventually scored on White's sacrifice fly to the warning track in center field to give the Twins an early lead. Castillo committed a throwing error in the fourth that didn't lead to a run. Batista's homer was his first on American soil since Sept. 25, 2004, against Philadelphia when he was with the Montreal Expos. He played in Japan last year.

"We're not going to judge [off one game] today," Hunter said, "because Roy Halladay had a holiday."