By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEW YORK - The World Series opened here with the traditional New York Yankees trappings Saturday night.

Whitey Ford threw out the first pitch to Yogi Berra. They had the F14 fly-over and Donald Trump's comb-over.

The flashbulbs went off when David Wells delivered the first pitch to Juan Pierre of the Florida Marlins at 8:07 on a crisp night in the Bronx.

Yes, the Marlins were here, too, playing David to the Yankees' Goliath. The Marlins have been in existence 11 years. The Yankees have won 26 World Championships.

Yankees manager Joe Torre knows America's perception of a mismatch.

"I think (with) Mr. (George) Steinbrenner we're always going to be Goliath because of how much money he spends," Torre said. "We're supposed to win and all that stuff."

Which is what the Marlins want everyone to think.

"We weren't supposed to beat the Phillies (for the wild card)," Florida manager Jack McKeon said. "We weren't supposed to beat the Giants (in the division series). We weren't supposed to beat the Cubs (in the NLCS)."

The Marlins have the best speed in baseball. They play good defense.

"You can never predict," Aaron Boone said. "... No one expected us to beat Pedro (Martinez) twice. No one expected them to beat (Mark) Prior and (Kerry) Wood."