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Yankees heading to World Series

Associated Press Arizona Daily Wildcat New York Yankee players celebrate their win over the Boston Red Sox at the end of Game 5 to win the American League Championship Series last night at Fenway Park in Boston. Strong pitching by Orlando Hernandez helped the Yankees to a 6-1 victory over Boston.

Associated Press

BOSTON - Blame the curse and bad calls or El Duque and Derek.

Blame any Yankee from DiMaggio to Dent.

In the end the story was the same: New York wins, Boston loses.

MVP Orlando Hernandez pitched shutout ball into the eighth inning and Derek Jeter hit a two-run homer as the Yankees won their record 36th pennant and a return trip to the World Series, beating Boston 6-1 last night in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series.

''We wanted to score early and give El Duque some breathing room,'' Jeter said. ''All he needed tonight was two runs.''

The Red Sox brought out all their good-luck charms, and yet it did no good against their longtime tormentors.

Babe Ruth's 82-year-old daughter threw out the first ball - trying to reverse the Curse of the Bambino - and Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez roused the well-behaved crowd of 33,589 from the dugout and bullpen.

And still, it will be the Yankees heading off to defend their World Series title while the Red Sox, after an eighth-inning rally fell short, and their fans are left hoping for better luck next century.

''We really had a fine year I told those kids in there we had a fine year all year long,'' Red Sox manager Jimy Williams said. ''They really did a lot for this city this summer.''

Game 1 of the World Series will be Saturday night at the home of the NL champion. Atlanta leads the New York Mets 3-2 in the NLCS, with Game 6 tonight at Turner Field.

The Yankees played both teams this summer and this will the first time World Series opponents have met in the regular season.

It will be the Yankees' third trip to the World Series in four years, and an opportunity for them to win their 25th title. All of those championships have come since Boston won its last championship in 1918, two years before the Red Sox sold Ruth to New York.

Hernandez, blowing on his hand to keep warm on a chilly night, improved to 4-0 with an 0.97 ERA in five career starts in the postseason. Two years ago, his half-brother Livan was MVP of the NLCS for the Florida Marlins.

''This is a beautiful moment,'' El Duque said last night through a translator.

El Duque shut down the Red Sox on three hits through seven innings, striking out nine, but left after Jason Varitek homered to start the eighth and Nomar Garciaparra followed with a double.

Mike Stanton relieved, setting off a series of mix-and-match moves by managers Joe Torre and Williams.

Allen Watson wound up walking pinch-hitter Butch Huskey to load the bases with one out. But just like always, the Red Sox fell short against the Yankees.

Ramiro Mendoza came in from the bullpen and kept it at 4-1, striking out pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg on a 3-2 pitch that bounced and getting Trot Nixon on a foul pop.

Jorge Posada hit a clinching two-run homer off Tom Gordon in the ninth.

This first-ever postseason meeting between the Yankees and Boston ended up the same way regular-season duels did for so many years, from the days when Joe DiMaggio led New York over Ted Williams and the Red Sox, to the afternoon when Bucky Dent's homer won a 1978 AL East tiebreaker.

Despite the disappointment, the Red Sox fans did not let their frustration spill over. Maybe a heavy security presence was responsible but it was quite a different scene from Sunday night, when the Fenway faithful littered the field with debris after an umpire's bad call.

Twice during the series, umpires admitted blowing calls against Boston. The Red Sox did not help themselves in the five games, though, by making 10 errors.

Rather, all that promise the Red Sox held - they rallied from an 0-2 deficit to beat Cleveland in the best-of-5 division series, then roughed up former star Roger Clemens in Game 3 of this series - went to waste.

Chuck Knoblauch led off the game with a single against Kent Mercker and Jeter homered into a stiff wind for a center-field shot that made it 2-0. After only eight pitches, Bryce Florie was warming up for the Red Sox.

It was a cold night - 48 degrees at game time with a 17 mph wind. During batting practice, a few Yankees players in left field tried beat the chill by stepping through a door into the Green Monster itself.