WASHINGTON, D.C., April 10--Mel Stottlemyre, a young New York pitcher who lost 20 games last year, threw a brilliant two-hit shutout here today as the Yankees plastered the Washington Senators, 8-0, in the opening game of the 1967 season.

President Johnson was at the game for a while. He didn't watch much of the game because he was busy talking to fellow fans from the Senate. But he threw out three opening balls (tradition is two) and the general opinion is he threw them farther than any other president.

The first one was a sizzling liner that nearly killed two Yankees, who were expecting the usual high lob. It bounced off them and the Senators' Fred Valentine scooped it up.

Johnson left after the sixth inning, and he wasn't the only one to leave early. Partisan fans started filing out after the third when the Yanks unloaded for seven runs on eight hits off Pete Richert, including a home run by right-fielder Bill Robinson. Elston Howard added the final insult with a homer in the seventh. In all the Yankees had 14 hits -- six for extra bases.

Sharpies

Stottlemyre only allowed two balls out of the infield -- a fly-out to right in the fifth and Valentine's ground ball single in the ninth. The only hit before the final inning was Cap Peterson's infield single in the second.

The Yankees looked sharp at bat too. All of the starting players got hits, six of them in a row in the third inning. Mickey Mantle played well in his debut at first base but was taken out of the game in the fifth when he aggravated his old leg injury.