LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Johnny be good: Damon leads Red Sox to A.L. crown

Boston will play host to Game 1 ofthe World Series.
NEW YORK (AP) -- It was a strange sight indeed, the Boston Red Sox jumping with joy in Yankee Stadium.
Seldom have the Red Sox risen so high, and rarely have the Yankees bowed so low.
Believe it, the Red Sox are in the World Series. And they got there with the most unbelievable comeback of all, with four sweet swings after decades of defeat, shaming the dreaded Yankees.
David Ortiz, Johnny Damon and Derek Lowe made sure of it.
Just three outs from getting swept in the AL championship series three nights earlier, the Red Sox finally humbled the Yankees, winning Game 7 in a 10-3 shocker Wednesday night to become the first major league team to overcome a 3-0 postseason series deficit.
"Not many people get the opportunity to shock the world. We came out and did it," Boston first baseman Kevin Millar said. "You know what? We beat the Yankees. Now they get a chance to watch us on the tube."
Jumped out early
Boston didn't need any of the late-inning dramatics that marked the last three games, leading 6-0 after two innings. Ortiz, the series MVP, started it with a two-run homer in the first off broken-down Kevin Brown. Damon, in a 3-for-29 slide coming in, quieted Yankee Stadium in the second with a grand slam on Javier Vazquez's first pitch.
After Derek Jeter sparked hope of a comeback with a run-scoring single in the third, Damon put a two-run homer into the upper deck for an 8-1 lead in the fourth.
Lowe pitched on two days' rest and allowed one hit in six innings. He silenced the Yankees' bats and boasting fans, who just last weekend assumed New York's seventh pennant in nine years was all but a lock. Pedro Martinez started the seventh, his first relief appearance in five years, and immediately sparked chants of the now famous "Who's Your Daddy?"
Three hits and two runs got the crowd going, but the rally stopped there. Mark Bellhorn added a solo homer in the eighth, and the bullpen closed out a five-hitter.
"It's very amazing, I think, to do what we did," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.
Yankees players slowly walked off, eliminated on their home field for the second straight season.
"I'm embarrassed right now," Alex Rodriguez said. "Obviously that hurts -- watching them on our field celebrating."
Series opener
The World Series will start at Fenway Park Saturday night against St. Louis or Houston.
Now that the Babe's team has been beaten, Boston can try to reverse The Curse, win the Series for the first time since 1918 and bring happiness to the Hub, which can scarcely believe the tumultuous turn of events.
From Fenway Park to Faneuil Hall, from Boston Common to Beacon Hill, the 11th pennant for the Red Sox, the first since 1986, will be remembered as the best for one reason: Beating New York in Yankee Stadium, site of last year's Game 7 meltdown.
This was for Williams, Doerr and Pesky, for Yastrzemski and Yawkey, for Fisk and Rice and even Buckner and Nomar, just a few of the hundreds who suffered the pain inflicted by their New York neighbors.
"That's for the '03 team, just like it's for the '78 and the '49 team," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. "I hope Ted Williams is having a cocktail upstairs."
First to win in seven
None of the previous 25 major league teams that fell behind 3-0 even forced a series to seven games. The Red Sox became only the third of 239 teams in the four major North American leagues to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-7 series and win, joining the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders.
New York, which dropped to 10-2 in the LCS, will no doubt face a bitter winter, with owner George Steinbrenner likely to take charge of overhauling a roster that has been short of starting pitching since the spring.
"I want to congratulate the Boston team," Steinbrenner said. "They did very well. They have a great team."
BOSTONNEW YORK
abrhbiabrhbi
Damon cf6236Jeter ss4011
Bllhorn 2b3111ARdrgz 3b4000
Reese 2b0000Shffield rf4000
MRmrz lf5110Matsui lf4120
DOrtiz dh4112BWllms cf4111
Varitek c5010Posada c3000
Nixon rf5110Lofton dh3011
Millar 1b3110TClark 1b2000
Mntkw 1b1010Olerud 1b1000
Mueller 3b4120Sierra ph1000
OCbera ss2211Cairo 2b2100
Totals38101310Totals32353
Boston240200011--10
New York001000200--3
E--Loaiza (1). DP--New York 1. LOB--Boston 9, New York 5. 2B--Matsui (6), BWilliams (2). HR--Damon 2 (2), Bellhorn (2), DOrtiz (3). SB--Damon (2), Lofton (1), Cairo (1). SF--OCabrera.
IPHRERBBSO
Boston
DLowe W,1-0611113
PMartinez132201
Timlin1 2-310011
Embree1-300000
New York
KBrown L,0-11 1-345521
JVazquez223352
Loaiza340002
Heredia2-300000
Gordon1 2-332200
MRivera1-300000
HBP--by DLowe (Cairo). Umpires--Home, Randy Marsh; First, Jeff Nelson; Second, John Hirschbeck; Third, Jim Joyce; Left, Jeff Kellogg; Right, Joe West. T--3:31. A--56,129.