Roger Clemens collects his 294th victory as New York hammers the Blue Jays, 8-4.

TORONTO (AP) – A violent collision that left All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter with a dislocated left shoulder overshadowed all the good that happened for the New York Yankees on opening day.

Hideki Matsui got his first hit, Roger Clemens won his 294th game and Alfonso Soriano hit his first career grand slam as the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 Monday night.

“This isn’t getting hit by a pitch or spraining an ankle,” Jeter said. “Hopefully, there’s nothing wrong.”

Jeter, the heart and soul of the Yankees, was injured in the third inning when Toronto catcher Ken Huckaby landed on his shoulder during a frightening play at third base.

“There’s nothing broken, but they still have to take an MRI,” Jeter said.

Jeter was down for more than 10 minutes, writhing in pain and surrounded by worried teammates. He was helped onto a cart by trainers Gene Monahan and Steve Donohue, strapped in place sitting upright and taken off the field – his head bent, his face dripping with sweat.

The shoulder was popped back in place, and Jeter was taken to a hospital for X-rays. There was no immediate word on how long New York would be without the five-time All-Star, the Yankees’ leader during their run of four World Series titles and five AL pennants since 1996.

“It hurts. I can’t really describe it,” Jeter said. “The worst part is getting it back in.”

That was the only thing that went wrong as the Yankees began their 100th anniversary season with their first opener outside the United States.

Matsui drove in the first run with a single in his first at-bat since coming over from Japan. Robin Ventura hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Soriano’s slam capped a five-run sixth that knocked out Roy Halladay.

That was more than enough for Clemens, starting what is likely his final season. He allowed three hits in six scoreless innings, moving within six wins of 300.

Jeter was hurt when he tried to go from first to third on Jason Giambi’s comebacker with Toronto’s defense shifted to the right side of the infield.

Huckaby ran up the line to field first baseman Carlos Delgado’s throw. Jeter dived headfirst into the bag, and Huckaby fell, his shin guard driving into Jeter’s shoulder.

Much of the focus was on Matsui, whose every step has been chronicled by a horde of Japanese journalists.

The Blue Jays caused a stir by taking out an advertisement Sunday that urged fans to boo Matsui and showed a Yankees’ hat with bird droppings on it. Toronto manager Carlos Tosca apologized to Yankees skipper Joe Torre and the ad ran in Monday’s papers with no reference to Matsui.

The fans gave him a mixed reaction – although there were far fewer boos than for Clemens and Raul Mondesi, both former Blue Jays.

As fans watched on television back in Japan, where it was just after 9 a.m. Tuesday, Matsui came up with runners on first and third and two outs in the first. He hit a hard grounder through the left side of the infield to drive in Jeter with the Yankees’ first run of the season.

The opposite-field hit was not what people expected from the slugger. It was more like one from slap-hitting Ichiro Suzuki, who won the AL MVP two years ago with Seattle in his first season after leaving Japan.

Matsui was Japan’s most famous power hitter of late, hitting 332 homers in 10 seasons with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. He finished 1-for-4 in his debut.

Cuban defector Jose Contreras, the Yankees’ other big international acquisition, allowed two runs over 1 2-3 innings in his major league debut.

Halladay allowed eight runs – three earned – and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings. An error by second baseman Orlando Hudson keyed the five-run sixth.

Notes: The only other Yankees to hit grand slams in openers are Russ Derry (1945) and Bobby Murcer (1981). … Matsui is the 10th player to start in left field in the past 10 openers for the Yankees. … The crowd of 50,119 was the biggest for a Toronto opener since 1995. The fans cheered both the U.S. national anthem and “God Bless America.” One fan, however, held a banner during the seventh-inning stretch that read “All Bless Iraq.” … Clemens improved to 6-3 with a 4.08 ERA in 13 opening-day starts.

AP-ES-03-31-03 2230EST