Yankees sweep it

From Wednesday night through the wee hours of yesterday, thousands of New Yorkers celebrated the 24th World Series victory of their legendary baseball team, the Yankees, and prepared for a parade to honour their champions today.

When the Yankees - who had won the Series' first two games at their home stadium Saturday and Sunday, and the third in San Diego on Tuesday - clinched the title with a 3-0 win late Wednesday, it was already 11:30 p.m. on the east coast.

But New York newspapers had stepped up to bat already yesterday morning, with banner headlines saluting the second championship victory in three years by the pinstriped heroes of "the city that never sleeps".

"Champions," exclaimed the tabloid Daily News in a special edition, while the masthead of its rival, the New York Post, shouted "Sweep!"

"We are very proud the Yankees will be coming up the Canyon of Heroes," said Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, referring to a narrow, southern section of Broadway, walled in by the towering skyscrapers of Wall Street, that has served as a traditional parade route for honoring American heroes. The parade is scheduled to start at 3.30 this afternoon (Irish time).

After the game, manager Joe Torre said he had never seen anything like his club's 1998 campaign.

"I have never been around a more courageous group, a more determined group," Torre said of the team that amassed a 125-50 win-loss record that included an American League record 114 regular-season triumphs.

"Not to take anything away from the 1996 team," Torre said. "But to have the record we had going during the course of the year and keep it going, not take a day off, that to me is an indication of something special."