NEW YORK, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The New York Yankees became the first team in postseason history to win the final three games of a best-of-five series after dropping the first two at home Monday night as they posted a 5-3 triumph over the Oakland Athletics in their American League Division Series.
Once again, the three-time defending world champions accomplished the unthinkable. New York dropped the opening two games at Yankee Stadium but won twice in Oakland to force a Game Five.
The Yankees even fell behind, 2-0, on Monday but got a clutch two-run single from rookie Alfonso Soriano, took advantage of some sloppy defense by the Athletics and received a key insurance homer from David Justice in the sixth inning.
And has been the case for most of the last three years, the clincher featured a clutch moment by Derek Jeter and ended with a blazing Mariano Rivera fastball. The victory was as improbable as it was historic.
The Yankees looked old and, in their own manager's words, "were eating dust" through two games. But Mike Mussina and Orlando Hernandez pitched them back into the series and nearly everyone chipped in during Monday's victory.
New York capitalized on some terrible defense to scratch out four runs against Game One winner Mark Mulder (1-1). And after starter Roger Clemens surrendered three runs in 4 1/3 innings, Mike Stanton (1-0), Ramiro Mendoza and Rivera combined on 4 2/3 scoreless frames.
Rivera went the final two to record his second save of the series.
