New York pitcher Johan Santana delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of his spring debut. The Mets lost, 5-4, to the Cardinals on Friday in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Johan Santana and Erik Bedard definitely showed something in their debuts for new teams: Even baseball’s best pitchers need time to tune up in spring training.

Acquired in a blockbuster trade this offseason, Santana gave up a three-run homer to Juan Gonzalez in the first inning of his first start with the Mets on Friday. The St. Louis Cardinals went on to beat New York 5-4 in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

“There are a lot of adjustments I’ve got to make. It’s going to take some time, but that’s what we’re here for,” Santana said. “The numbers will say something different, but I feel really good.”

He gave up three runs and four hits in two innings. He threw for the cycle, in fact – Gonzalez homered, Brendan Ryan tripled, Albert Pujols doubled and Chris Duncan singled off Santana.

“Today was definitely good,” Santana said. “The fans keep you in the game, they keep you going. They were excited to finally have the opportunity to see me throw.

Santana threw 30 pitches, 22 for strikes, before going to the bullpen and throwing an additional 15 pitches.

“I was rushing my delivery a little, and they were aggressive swinging right away,” he said. “We threw a lot of first pitches for strikes. I threw a couple of fastballs that stayed up in the strike zone.”

Pujols later homered off Duaner Sanchez, pitching in his first game since injuring his shoulder in a taxi accident in July 2006.

The Seattle Mariners can only figure Bedard will get a lot better after their new ace of few words allowed three runs in two innings during a 5-3 victory over a San Francisco Giants split squad in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“I was throwing strikes. They were just hitting them. Can’t do much about that,” Bedard said, shrugging his shoulders after yielding four hits, walking two and striking out one in his first game since Aug. 26.

The New York Yankees’ trio of touted youngsters opened 2008 with shutout ball.

Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes combined for five scoreless innings to lead the Yankees past South Florida 11-4 in Tampa, Fla.

Also:

Astros 4, Indians 3

At Kissimmee, Fla., Roy Oswalt pitched two hitless innings.

Tigers 3, Blue Jays 1

At Dunedin, Fla., Detroit’s Justin Verlander threw two scoreless innings.

White Sox 7, D-Backs 5

At Tucson, Ariz., Brandon Webb and Mark Buehrle each pitched two scoreless innings in their spring debuts.

Giants (ss) 8, Cubs 6

At Mesa, Ariz., Carlos Zambrano allowed two hits and an unearned run in two innings for Chicago.

Phillies 5, Pirates 4

At Bradenton, Fla., Jack Wilson went 3-for-3 with a home run for Pittsburgh.

Braves 10, Dodgers 3

At Kissimmee, Fla., Hiroki Kuroda pitched two scoreless innings in his Los Angeles debut.

Athletics 11, Brewers 4

At Phoenix, Jack Cust homered in each of his first two at-bats and drove in five runs.

Angels 3, Rangers 2

At Surprise, Ariz., Brandon Wood hit a homer for L.A.

Rays 7, Reds 6

At Sarasota, Fla., Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria had an RBI double and Eric Hinske hit the go-ahead single for the Rays.

Marlins (ss) 4, Nationals 1

At Viera, Fla., Alejandro De Aza led off the game with a homer and drove in two runs for Florida.

Orioles 7, Marlins (ss) 5

At Jupiter, Fla., Baltimore’s Brian Roberts stole third twice, a day after stealing two bases in one inning.

Rockies 15, Mexican National All-Stars 2

At Tucson, Ariz., Ubaldo Jimenez pitched two scoreless innings, and Ryan Spilborghs doubled twice for the defending NL champions.

Red Sox 8, Twins 3

At Fort Myers, Fla., Daisuke Matsuzaka needed only 12 pitches to get through two scoreless innings. Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek homered for Boston.