The Yankees are coming! The Yankees are coming!
That’s the cry in Bean Town as the Bombers and their fans head north leading the Red Sox two games to none in the American League Championship Series after yesterday’s hard-fought 3-2 Yankee Stadium win.
“The Yankees are on a mission. There’s no stopping them!” said fan Mitchell Gross, 18, who was in the stands in the House that Ruth Built.
“Their pitching and hitting is too good,” said Gross, a college freshman from Long Island.
“They’re definitely the team of the ’90s.”
Tommy McKeon, 42, a subway motorman from The Bronx, exclaimed: “The Yankees are awesome.
“They’re in a league of their own. The Red Sox don’t have a chance because of the Curse of The Bambino,” McKeon said, referring to the legendary hex placed on Boston after they sold Babe Ruth’s contract to the Yanks in 1920.
“The Yanks have too much talent.”
The Bombers will get the chance to extend their lead in the best-of-seven series tomorrow at Fenway Park, where ex-Red Sox hurler Roger Clemens squares off against Boston’s current ace Pedro Martinez in Game 3.
Meanwhile, the Mets play the Braves today at Shea Stadium, hoping to come back from their 0-2 deficit in the National League Championship Series.
The Yanks were first to get on the board last night when Tino Martinez slammed a solo homer in the fourth.
But Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra answered with a two-run homer in the fifth, to give the Red Sox the lead.
The Yanks tied it and then went up for good in the seventh when Paul O’Neill knocked in Chuck Knoblauch.
The Red Sox made it interesting with a pair of two-out hits in the ninth – but closer Mariano Rivera shut them down.
“O’Neill’s the man,” said Keisha Wright 27, a waitress from Harlem.
“Even though he’s got a broken rib he still was able to come through in the clutch.
“He’s a warrior!”
Pennsylvania mill worker Bob Edelman, 55, raved about how Yankee starter David Cone “really pitched fabulous tonight.”
“The Yanks are manhandling the Sox. It’s just so great because, on the Yankees, there’s a different hero every night.”
Fan Hector Garcia, 37, a Brooklyn gardner, enthused, “We own the Red Sox. We’ve owned them for the whole century.
“I am so pumped up about this team. They’ve got it all, the pitching, the hitting and the best manager.”
The winner of the playoff match-up goes on to the World Series.
The Yankees are shooting for their second straight World Series title, their third in four years and the 25th in the team’s storied history.
“Clemens is going to beat the pants off the Red Sox [tomorrow],” predicted Liz Hudak, 45, a Putnam County lawyer.
“The Yankees are a team of destiny. This is a team for the ages. They just keep winning, baby.”