Ivan Rodriguez and Miguel Tejada wasted no time in getting started on helping turn around losing teams.

In his debut with the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, Rodriguez had two singles and an RBI in a 5-4 win over the Montreal Expos.

“With him signing, automatically we’ve got a chance to win the Central,” fellow newcomer Rondell White said. “I don’t think there’s no one to overpower us.

“The attitude around here is not like we lost 119 games last year. We’re walking around here with confidence, and cockiness.”

Rodriguez signed a four-year, $40 million contract in the offseason to help the Tigers rebound from one of the worst seasons in major-league history after leading the Florida Marlins to the World Series title.

The 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner will try to instill some of that championship swagger on his young teammates.

“We have to win every day, even in spring training,” Rodriguez said at Lakeland, Fla. “If everything works out well here, we’re going to be fine in the season.”

Carlos Pena, who hit a home run against Florida Southern on Wednesday, hit a two-run homer in the fifth. Rodriguez and Dmitri Young followed with RBIs in the inning.

Tejada hit a solo homer off World Series MVP Josh Beckett and the Baltimore Orioles made Lee Mazzilli a 6-5 winner over the Marlins in his first game as a big-league manager.

New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui jumps against the wall, but the fan in the front row makes the catch on a home run by Philadelphia's Jim Thome. The Phillies won, 5-1, Thursday in Clearwater, Fla.

“I’m really happy to hit that home run, and really happy to see my team play good baseball,” said Tejada, who signed as a free agent from the Oakland Athletics in December.

The Orioles’ two other high-profile acquisitions, Rafael Palmeiro and Javy Lopez, didn’t disappoint either. Palmeiro had an RBI single with two outs off Beckett in the first and Lopez went 1-for-2 at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Baltimore second baseman Jerry Hairston broke the ring finger on his right hand while stealing third in the first inning. He will be out at least a month.

“I’m just hoping it stays in place and I don’t need surgery,” he said.

Hairston’s backup, Mike Fontenot hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning for the winning margin.

In his first action of the spring, Beckett allowed two runs and five hits in 22/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Mazzilli, the New York Yankees’ first-base coach last year, was encouraged by his team’s success against Beckett, the pitcher who stifled the Yankees in Game 6 to clinch the series.

Ramon Castro started his campaign to replace Rodriguez as catcher for Florida with two home runs, including a two-run shot off Orioles opening-day starter Sidney Ponson in the second.