BOSTON (Ticker) -- Forget your daddy. Hide the kids.

Hideki Matsui , Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez fueled an impressive power display by the New York Yankees , who moved within one win of a surprising American League Championship Series sweep with a 19-8 whipping of the Boston Red Sox .

Matsui homered twice as part of his second five-RBI game of the series, Sheffield homered and drove in four runs and Rodriguez had a solo homer and a pair of RBI doubles. They helped the Yankees extend their postseason winning streak to six games.

New York can complete a stunning sweep of its bitter rivals with a victory in Game Four on Sunday night.

"We knew going in that it was going to be a tough series. And it's not over yet because they are certainly capable of winning ballgames," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "But to be up, 3-0, yeah, I think we're surprised."

The top half of New York's lineup was virtually unstoppable as Derek Jeter , Rodriguez, Sheffield and Matsui combined to go 13-for-20 with 12 RBI and 15 runs scored. Rodriguez and Matsui each scored five times to tie a postseason record, while Matsui tied an ALCS mark with five hits.

"I could see the guys were focused from the first time I got into the locker room (tonight). And when we're focused, the sky's the limit for this lineup," Sheffield said. "I expected this all year. It's just happening now in the playoffs, and it's the right time to do it."

Bernie Williams chipped in three hits and three RBI in the highest-scoring game in LCS history. The 19 runs were the most allowed in Boston's checkered postseason history.

"I sat in that dugout for a lot of wins this year and took the smiles and the laughs and everything. You have to sit through a night like tonight," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "I won't bail on those guys. We'll show up tomorrow and play."

The game also was the longest nine-inning affair in postseason history, lasting 4 hours, 20 minutes.

In overcoming an early 3-0 deficit, the Red Sox grabbed their first lead of the series. But one of three baserunning blunders cut short a two-run third inning and left the game tied, 6-6.

New York wasted little time reclaiming the lead for good. Former Yankee Ramiro Mendoza (0-1), who replaced ineffective starter Bronson Arroyo in the third, hit Miguel Cairo leading off the fourth. Curtis Leskanic came out of the bullpen and retired Jeter but walked Rodriguez and served up a three-run blast to Sheffield.

Matsui doubled and Jorge Posada was walked intentionally with two outs before Ruben Sierra tripled past right fielder Trot Nixon to extend New York's lead to 11-6.

Rodriguez and Sheffield added RBI doubles in the fifth, and the Yankees tacked on four runs in the seventh.

"They didn't give up," Jeter said. "We took the lead, they came back. We took the lead again and they came back again. We knew we were going to have to score some runs, but we didn't think we were going to get this many."

Only nine of New York's 22 hits were singles as the Yankees tied a postseason mark with eight doubles.

Like Arroyo, New York starter Kevin Brown was gone by the third inning. Unlike a quartet of Red Sox relievers, Javier Vazquez (1-0) stabilized things for the Yankees with four solid frames before tiring in the seventh.

"He looked like he was a little jumpy at first, but once he gathered himself, those zeroes he put up there were like gold for us," Torre said of Vazquez, who was exiled to the bullpen after the AL Division Series.

Making his second career postseason start, Arroyo was in trouble from the outset. He issued a leadoff walk to Jeter, who raced home on a double by Rodriguez. Two batters later, Matsui homered.

"We had a night tonight where none of our pitchers located; I mean, none of them," Francona said. "We walked guys, we hit some guys, we got men on base, we gave up a lot of extra-base hits. That's a bad combination."

The Red Sox broke into the scoring column on a two-run homer by Nixon in the second. They tied it on an RBI single by Johnny Damon and took the lead when Jeter mishandled Manny Ramirez 's hard grounder to shortstop.

A leadoff homer by Rodriguez sparked New York's three-run third, but Orlando Cabrera delivered a two-run double in the bottom half to tie it, 6-6. Bill Mueller also tried to score but was thrown out at the plate.

"I felt like we had the better team coming in," said Damon, who is just 1-for-13 in the series. "Obviously, right now, it doesn't quite look that way, unless we put together four very good games."