"Russell Martin was clearly having a good time at the postgame media scrum in front of his locker Thursday. The new Yankee catcher answered a few questions en Francais for a French-language TV station, smiling for the folks back home in Montreal, and joked when his cell phone's ringtone infiltrated sound bites.

"That's a little funk right there," Martin said.

Why shouldn't he have been happy? Martin, the man replacing the popular Jorge Posada as the Yankee backstop, enjoyed a terrific debut in the Yanks' 6-3 victory over Detroit, going 1-for-3 with two runs. He singled to open the third inning and then stole third base moments before Mark Teixeira's key three-run homer. He also enjoyed a quick rapport with ace CC Sabathia, who said he shook off Martin only once in the ace's six innings.

"He had an outstanding day," Joe Girardi said. "He's the one that really got us started with the single, then he steals third and puts (Detroit ace Justin) Verlander in a different situation with first and third, set up the home run for Tex. He scored a couple runs, blocked a couple balls and did a great job with our pitching staff. It was great to see."

Asked if it was important for him to get off to a good start, Martin said, "I think it's more for the fans, so the fans don't really get on me." Then he laughed again."