Cliff Lee's masterpiece earned an 11.9 fast national rating and 19 share, a 29 percent improvement from the record low ratings of the Phils-Tampa Bay Rays opener last year.

Nationally, Fox pulled in 17.7 million viewers for Game 1.

Ratings represent the percentage of all households with televisions tuned into a program, and shares represent the percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time.

The Fox network said it was the second-best Game 1 rating this decade, behind the Boston Red Sox' opener against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the Fox29 telecast in Philadelphia averaged a 44.5 rating and a 59.3 share, which translates to about 1,312,848 homes in this market.

Selig on McGwire. Bud Selig is happy Big Mac is back in baseball.

Mark McGwire was hired this week as hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, ending an exile for the former slugger who became notorious for his refusal to answer congressional questions about steroids use.

"Over the years I developed affection for players who I get to know and have been good," the commissioner said at Yankee Stadium before Game 2 of the World Series.

McGwire hit a then-record 70 homers in 1998 and retired with 583 in 2001. Four years later at a congressional hearing on steroids, he repeatedly said he wasn't there to talk about the past.

"I know how badly the Cardinals wanted to do it," Selig said of the decision to bring back McGwire. "I know that Tony La Russa, who has been talking to me about it, has been working with him. I know how close they are."