YANKEE NOTES

TAMPA – It’s just plain silly to say the price went up on Hideki Matsui. But if his first at-bat in yesterday’s intrasquad game is any indication, Godzilla may be on his way to a monster season.

A day after saying he wanted to play out his contract year, Matsui homered off Chien-Ming Wang in the first inning.

“There’s no such thing as a practice game for Matsui,” manager Joe Torre said after Matsui’s team won 5-4. “It seems to be very important he has quality at-bats.”

Matsui, who finished 1-for-3, was batting third as a member of the “Gator” team stocked with major-leaguers. He pulled a 2-and-2 pitch from Wang over the fence in right.

Jason Giambi didn’t fare as well. Giambi walked on four pitches in his first plate appearance but later grounded into two double plays.

“I saw the ball good today, had good at-bats, hit the ball hard,” Giambi said.

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Mariano Rivera shattered his first bat of the spring yesterday, splintering the lumber of a non-roster outfielder named Noah Hall.

“I don’t worry about that,” Rivera said.

Rivera threw live BP for the first time this spring, hurling for about 10 minutes against mostly minor leaguers on a back field. That’s the pace the veteran closer is comfortable with, as he didn’t throw in the offseason.

The Yankee closer predicted it would be about another week before he throws in an actual game. Although he took it easy, Rivera saved his heat for the final few minutes.

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Jorge Posada has a stiff neck but will probably be ready to go in a few days. Posada did conditioning and worked out in the weight room yesterday.

“It’s not serious,” Joe Torre said. “Chances are, he’ll be catching Thursday [in the exhibition opener].”

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Kevin Brown is scheduled to toss two innings in today’s intrasquad game, which will last seven innings. Yesterday’s game lasted six innings. John Flaherty will catch Brown.

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The Yankees and WCBS officially announced yesterday that Suzyn Waldman will be John Sterling’s radio partner this season.