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Just win, baby No matter who they face, the Yankees just do their thing
NEW YORK -- What? You were expecting maybe the Seattle Mariners? Yeah. Right. No, the New York Yankees are in the World Series -- yes, once again -- after their thorough 12-3 wipeout of the Mariners in Monday night's clinching Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. Wipeout, really, is putting it kindly. The Yankees didn't so much wipe out the M's as the M's wiped out themselves. The Mariners fell apart Monday, fell completely apart. They shattered into huge quivering pieces in one of the more lopsided rip jobs in a must-win postseason game that you'd ever want to see. They botched a ground ball. They walked a run in. Another scored on a wild pitch. They let balls fall in front of them. They served up three home runs. What a way to go out. So now the Mariners slink home with their 116 regular-season wins, carrying with them the painful realization that they'll be remembered for the big, honking mess they left on the Yankee Stadium turf in Game 5. "It was a surprise to everybody," ex-Yankees reliever and current Mariners reliever Jeff Nelson said after the game. He was talking about the way the Mariners threw away Game 5. "It's a shame that it happened. But it did." Maybe someday, someone like the Mariners or the Cleveland Indians or the Oakland A's will make it past the Yankees. Maybe it will even happen in our lifetime. But for now, it's the Yankees, again. Convincingly. Again. "We just didn't answer the bell," Mariners second baseman Bret Boone said. The Yankees rolled through this season's best team in baseball just like they rolled through the second-best team in baseball in the American League Division Series. They outpitched them. They got the key hits when they needed them. And even when they were beaten -- like they were by the A's in Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS, and like they were in a 14-3 pounding in Game 3 of the ALCS -- they didn't panic. If there's one thing about the Yankees that really ticks off Yankees haters, it's their imperturbability. They can be knocked down. But no one's knocked them out since 1997. "They win. Period. Doesn't matter how," said the Mariners' Mark McLemore. "They just win." When the Yanks beat the A's in the ALDS, they beat the hottest team in baseball, a team that won more than 100 games. The Yankees came back from an 0-2 hole, winning the next two games in Oakland and a thrilling Game 5 in Yankee Stadium. And then they faced the Mariners, almost certainly the best team these Yankees have faced in this recent run. And they absolutely slammed them. Won the first two games in Seattle. Allowed a blip of a Game 3. Then won Game 4 on a homer in the bottom of the ninth and Game 5 with a four-run third inning that started with a Seattle error. They won the Series by holding Seattle, the best-hitting team in the American League, to a .211 average. They won it by stymieing Seattle leadoff man Ichiro Suzuki (four hits and a .222 average). They won it because ALCS most valuable player Andy Pettitte pitched 14 1/3 innings and allowed only four runs, winning both games. They won it because Bernie Williams had three home runs in the five games, and five RBIs. They won it -- everyone agreed -- because they were better. At everything. Simple as that. "I think everyone still considers that, no matter if we are down 0-2 or up 2-0 or whatever, I think everybody still realizes that we are the world champs," Pettitte said. "We have shown a lot of heart and determination to try to keep that right now." Now, the Yankees face their latest test. The best 1-2 pitching combination in baseball awaits in the World Series. Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks figures to start Game 1 of the Series on Saturday in Phoenix, and dominating lefty Randy Johnson will be there for Game 2. The Yankees have won 11 straight postseason series. They have taken on all comers. They have not cracked. They never crack. So, what? You're expecting someone other than the Yankees? John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer. Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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