NEW YORK -- Yasiel Puig kicked back in his chair, his well-worn uniform streaked in red clay, and calmly answered questions in Spanish. Then, suddenly, he threw his hands in the air and shouted, "Pow!" In any language, hes about as unpredictable off the field as he is on it, and everyone in baseball is riveted. Puig homered to complete a dazzling debut in New York, helping Los Angeles beat the Yankees 6-0 Wednesday for a split of their day-night doubleheader. The Dodgers salvaged manager Don Mattinglys return to the Bronx after a 6-4 loss in the opener. Hanley Ramirez capped a six-hit day with a pair of RBI singles in the nightcap. Still, he looked quizzically at a group of reporters when they gathered to talk about perhaps his best day of an injury-marred season. "Its all about Puig," he said. Not quite, but Mattingly thinks adding the Cuban with just 15 major league games of experience to a lineup along with Adrian Gonzalez and Ramirez may key the Dodgers getting out of the NL West cellar. "Hanley, for me, Ive said it since he came over. I think hes one of the best hitters in the game," Mattingly said. "The way Yasiels swinging the bat, if Adrian continues to swing the bat the way hes capable of, thats a pretty potent trio of guys." Chris Capuano (2-5) pitched three-hit ball for six innings in his comeback from the disabled list. The Dodgers rebounded from a sloppy loss to former teammate Hiroki Kuroda (7-5) in a matchup between injury-ravaged teams with $200 million payrolls. "Wouldve been better to get two, but well take one," Mattingly said. "It felt good." In the first meeting between the teams in New York since the Dodgers clinched the 1981 World Series title with a Game 6 victory at old Yankee Stadium, Ichiro Suzuki homered, drove in three runs and made a spectacular catch on the warning track for the Yankees. New York got help from reliever Ronald Belisarios two errors on the same play in a three-run seventh. The clubs played a split doubleheader because of a rainout Tuesday night. The announced attendance for both games between the old October rivals whove met in a record 11 World Series topped a total of 80,000, although there were many empty seats. The Dodgers started out quickly against Phil Hughes (3-6), who allowed a season-high 10 hits and five runs in six innings. "Youve got to hit your spots," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You can mix some good pitches and try to do some of that, too, but it comes down to not making mistakes and he made some mistakes." The first four batters reached on singles with Puig bunting for a hit and Ramirez getting his fifth hit of the day -- an RBI single. Gonzalez also drove in a run but Tim Federowicz grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the rally. Gonzalez doubled in the third and scored on Andre Ethiers two-base hit after Ramirez made an out for the first time. Ethier helped quash a Yankees rally in the fourth, throwing out Robinson Cano trying for a double with none out to the delight of 85-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, who was making his first foray into Twitter. "I think Andre Ethier has done a really good job in Center Field. Especially for someone who has played Right Field for years. .VinScully," he tweeted. Puig homered to right field leading off the seventh to make it 6-0. In the opener, Puig tried throwing out a runner at first on a single to right field. He was also caught trying to turn a routine single into double in the first inning -- then made it work on a ball hit into only a slightly better spot in the eighth, eliciting an ovation from the very vocal Dodgers fans, who out-hollered Yankees fans on many occasions. The cheers were especially loud from all fans for Mattingly in his return -- even if he was wearing the wrong shade of blue. The Bleacher Creatures chanted "Donnie Baseball!" during each game, and fans cheered a video tribute in the opener and a live shot of Mattingly in the visitors dugout in the nightcap. The 1985 AL MVP tipped his cap in appreciation. In the second game, Puig bunted for a hit, was hit by a pitch, stole a base to help manufacture a run and hit his fifth homer. "You can recognize the tools right away," Girardi said after Game 1. "Theres an awful lot to like about this kid." Ramirez went 4 for 4 with a two-run homer in the eighth in the day game, and drove in Puig twice to help make Capuanos return from a strained upper back muscle easy. He entered 1-4 with a 5.45 ERA in eight games -- six starts -- and has been on the DL twice. But he was nasty Wednesday in his first scoreless start since August 2012. "I was a really happy with the way I felt," Capuano said. Kuroda gave up two runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings to outpitch South Korean rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3) in the afternoon. Ryu allowed a two-run double to Lyle Overbay and a homer to Suzuki in the sixth. With runners on first and second in the seventh, Belisario let Vernon Wells meek pop in front of the mound drop for an error. Jayson Nix advanced to third on the drop and scored when Belisario threw the ball into centre field trying to get Cano at second base. Belisario hit Thomas Neal with a pitch, then Suzuki greeted Paco Rodriguez with a blooped two-run single to make it 6-2. Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Preston Claiborne after Suzuki robbed Gonzalez of an extra-base hit in the eighth to pull the Dodgers to 6-4. But Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth and struck out Puig to end it for his 25th save. "I felt so happy to face the best, not only the best pitcher in the league but the best closer," Puig said through a translator. "I wanted a base hit off him but he beat me like he beat everybody in the big leagues." NOTES: New Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the second game. Before the game he talked with Rivera in the dugout. ... The Dodgers optioned outfielder Alex Castellanos to Triple-A Albuquerque. Castellanos went 0 for 2 in the opener. NFL Jerseys China . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Wholesale NFL Store . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. http://www.cheapnfljerseysbest.com/ . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. And spoken is defined as one calling the other to inquire, no more, no less. Supply Cheap NFL Jerseys . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. The Greatest Opening Weekend Ever provided a valuable lesson in how we stereotype programs instead of focusing on personnel. Houston beat Florida State in a New Years Six Bowl last postseason, while Oklahoma lost a semifinal to Clemson by three touchdowns. And Houston was a 10-point underdog versus OU on Saturday? LSU struggled on offense in the second half of last season. The Tigers returned eight offensive starters. And those same players struggled on offense against Wisconsin.A team defines its jersey. Its not the other way around.1. Alabama coach Nick Saban twice mentioned his relief that his defense held USC to 64 rushing yards without needing safeties for run support. His explanation taught a lesson in the value of defensive line depth. Once their gas tank is out, its out, Saban said. The little guys out there ... can run 100 yards and be tanked on the sidelines and two minutes later come back up and say, Coach, Im ready to go, and run just as fast as they were before. But when the big guys run out of gas, that tank is not getting refilled until tomorrow.2. If you saw the highlights Saturday, you saw South Alabama coach Joey Jones leading his team onto the field in celebration after a Mississippi State field goal failed and the Jaguars won 21-20, their first victory over an SEC team. Unfortunately, the game wasnt over. Jones didnt give himself any up-downs for the mental error, but he said Sunday: I was in a meeting with the team. I said, We got eight penalties for 57 yards. Yall got seven for 42. Ill take the other one. That was my fault. He laughed as he described it: Im yelling at them to get off the field. They followed me out there.3. They could teach philosophy classes about this one: If your punt returner fields the ball on your own 3-yard-line, spins out of two tackles and goes 97 yards for a touchdown (called back for an illegal block), how do you grade him? Stanford special-teams coach Pete Alamar split the difference on Christian McCaffrey: a minus on assignment and execution, a plus on effort. You think, This is not going to be good, Alamar said. And he is special. Still, I yelled: No! No! No! Yes! Yes! Yes! Alamar positioned McCaffrey on the 10 and gave him two steps leeway. McCaffrey took four steps back to field the punt. When he came off the field, we talked about it, Alamar said. He knew.4. It comes as nno surprise that Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald handled a soul-crushing loss with class.dddddddddddd. The Wildcats fell to Western Michigan 22-21 after quarterback Clayton Thorson fumbled at the Broncos goal line in the final minutes. You band together. You stick together. Walk used to say it all the time: Some people point fingers, others point thumbs, Fitzgerald said, Walk being his mentor and predecessor, the late Randy Walker. We need to have a bunch of guys be thumb-pointers and look inward and look at how we can coach better and how we can play better. Northwestern went 5-0 in one-play games last year.5. From the This May Not Mean Anything But Department: USC sold out its allotment of 18,000 seats at Cowboys AT&T Stadium and bought more on the secondary market. UCLA returned a couple of hundred seats from its allotment of 4,000 at Texas A&M. The discrepancy could have been a result of the lure of the Crimson Tide and the Trojans resuming their rivalry after 31 years, while the Bruins and the Aggies have no relationship. Or it could be that football tradition at USC is deeper and richer than it is at UCLA.6. Three teams with double-digit losing streaks ended them Saturday against FCS opponents. Hey, its all in scheduling. Kansas coach David Beaty cried when his players presented him with a game ball after a 55-6 defeat of Rhode Island, which ended the Jayhawks 15-game slide. UCF, also winless last season, won its first game under coach Scott Frost by shutting out South Carolina State 38-0. And Eastern Michigan stopped a 10-game slide by beating Mississippi Valley State 61-14. The longest losing streak in the FBS now? Charlotte at 11 games. The 49ers play FCS foe Elon on Saturday.7. And lets not forget Louisiana-Monroe, which defeated FCS Southern 38-21. You may not care about that if youre not a Warhawk, but LSU, Tulane, Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Lafayette all lost on Saturday. Louisiana, as every Southern football coach knows, has the most high school football talent per capita in the country. When ULM is all that stands between the states FBS schools and an offer, youve got a football problem. Perhaps all the heartache in Baton Rouge this year will provide some perspective. I doubt it. ' ' '