ALCS
 - Game 1
 - Game 2
 - Game 3
 - Game 4
 - Game 5

World Series
 - Game 1
 - Game 2
 - Game 3
 - Game 4
 - Game 5
 - Game 6
 - Game 7

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- As soon as David Eckstein settled under the popup, the red-clad crowd of 45,067 at Edison Field began celebrating.

And when the Anaheim shortstop caught it for the final out, a most stunning American League Division Series was over.

While the New York Yankees sat and stared blankly from the first-base dugout, the Angels and their fans cheered as never before, having beaten the big, bad New York Yankees 9-5 to win the best-of-five series 3-1.

''It's been a long time coming for myself and this organization, a lot of blood, sweat and tears,'' Tim Salmon said after the Angels won a postseason series for the first time. ''To finally come through and do it, it's just special.''

Shawn Wooten homered and hit a run-scoring single during an eight-run fifth inning as the wild-card Angels put an emphatic end to 42 years of frustration.

''I didn't have my head in the sand, a lot of people didn't give us much of a chance,'' manager Mike Scioscia said.

''The perspective is, it's one rung up the ladder,'' he said. ''It has to give us confidence to beat the incredible club we just played against.''

The no-name Angels hit .376 -- the highest ever in a postseason series -- against a vaunted pitching staff Yankees manager Joe Torre had called his best in his seven-year tenure.

And New York's 8.21 ERA was its worst in 57 postseason series.

''It really got ugly for us,'' Torre said. ''I have no reasoning for it or excuse for it. It's a bad taste right now. They played a whole lot better than we did. They did what they needed to do and we weren't there.''

By losing, the four-time defending AL champions were the first team eliminated from the playoffs this October.

The Angels, meanwhile, play at either Oakland or Minnesota in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series on Tuesday night.

Born as an expansion franchise in 1961 as the ''other'' team in the Los Angeles area, the Angels made the playoffs only three times before this year.

They blew a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five ALCS against Milwaukee in 1982 and were one strike away from the World Series in 1986 before losing the last three games to Boston.

That's six chances to win a series, and six defeats.

It was a different story Saturday.

''Nobody gave us a chance against the Yankees. Maybe we caught them on a bad week, I don't know. You can't say enough about how our club's playing,'' said Salmon, the longest-tenured Angels player.

The Angels, who won a club-record 99 games during the season, took advantage of another collapse by Yankees pitching -- this time, David Wells got roughed up.

Torre gave the Angels credit, but wouldn't say they were a better team than the Yankees.

''I'm too proud to say that,'' he said. ''We were beaten by a team that played a whole lot better than we did this week.''

Benji Gil, like Wooten a seldom-used right-handed batter inserted by Scioscia against Wells, also had two of his team's postseason record-tying 10 hits in the fifth, which ended with the Angels on top 9-2.

The Angels have played in 20 postseason games in their history while the Yankees have won 26 World Series, including four of the last six.

But it's the Angels, who battered New York pitching for 56 hits and 31 runs in this four-game series, who are moving on.

And for the first time since 1997, the Yankees aren't.

After Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina struggled in the first three games, Wells wasn't any better. The big four finished with a whopping 10.38 ERA in this series.

Following the Yankees' Game 7 World Series defeat against Arizona last year, owner George Steinbrenner stood in the locker room and vowed his team would make it back.

The Yankees signed the biggest free agent on the market, Jason Giambi, and the Boss personally lured Wells to win games just like this.

''There's no doubt it's disappointing,'' Giambi said. ''We worked hard, got 103 wins, but they just beat us. No excuses. I thought we played great, to be honest with you. They just played better.''

Long owned by singing cowboy Gene Autry until his death in 1998, the Angels are now controlled by The Walt Disney Co., which is trying to sell them.

Among the champagne-soaked visitors in the clubhouse was Autry's widow, Jackie.

''This is great to see,'' she said. ''The fact that these guys still remember and still love Gene is very heartwarming to me.''

Wells, who brought an 8-1 lifetime record in postseason play into the game, limited the Angels to three hits and one run in the first four innings.

Then came the disastrous fifth when the Angels, who hit a major league-leading .282 during the season, erupted.

Wooten, who had only three home runs during the regular season, hit a 2-0 pitch over the left-field fence for the Angels' ninth homer of the series to make it 2-all.

Gil singled one out later -- the first of five consecutive singles. With two outs, Scott Spiezio's run-scoring single made it 6-2 and chased Wells, who was charged with eight runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Ramiro Mendoza allowed a single by Wooten and a two-run double by Bengie Molina, and Orlando Hernandez gave up a single by Gil before retiring Eckstein -- the 13th batter of the inning -- on a fly ball.

Pitching on three days of rest, winner Jarrod Washburn was shaky from the start, allowing five of the first eight batters to reach base and using 94 pitches in the first five innings.

But he was helped by two double-play balls and the Yankees managed only two runs off him. Raul Mondesi and Juan Rivera hit long flies to left that had home-run distance, but both hooked foul.

Game notes

Kevin Appier, spared from the necessity of starting a Game 5, is expected to start the ALCS opener Tuesday at either Minnesota or Oakland. Angels coaches will meet Sunday to set the rotation for the rest of the seven-game series. ... Wells was making his first postseason start since Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, when he was the winning pitcher in the Yankees' 9-6 victory over San Diego that triggered a four-game sweep. ... Anaheim's 10 hits in the fifth tied the postseason record set by the Philadelphia Athletics in the fourth game of the 1929 World Series. ... Gary DiSarcina, the Angels' starting shortstop throughout the 1990s, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ... Jeter singled in the first to become the first player in postseason history to reach the 100-hit plateau, and added another hit. ... The Yankees grounded into six double plays against Washburn -- four in Game 1 and another two Saturday. Only eight batters grounded into double plays against Washburn during the season.

How They Scored

NY YANKEES 2ND: J Posada singled to right. R Mondesi flied out to center. R Coomer singled to shallow left, J Posada to third. R Ventura doubled to deep right center, J Posada scored, R Coomer to third. J Rivera grounded out to third. A Soriano flied out to deep right. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) NY YANKEES 1, ANAHEIM 0.

ANAHEIM 3RD: S Wooten singled to shallow center. B Molina sacrificed to catcher, S Wooten to second. B Gil singled to left, S Wooten to third. D Eckstein safe at first on error by second baseman A Soriano, S Wooten scored, B Gil to third. D Erstad grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, D Eckstein out at second. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 1 Error) NY YANKEES 1, ANAHEIM 1.

NY YANKEES 5TH: J Rivera safe at first on throwing error by third baseman T Glaus. A Soriano doubled to deep left, J Rivera to third. D Jeter hit sacrifice fly to deep left, J Rivera scored. Ja Giambi flied out to left. B Williams lined out to third. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Error) NY YANKEES 2, ANAHEIM 1.

ANAHEIM 5TH: S Wooten homered to left center. B Molina flied out to right. B Gil singled to center. D Eckstein singled to right, B Gil to third. D Erstad singled to shallow center, B Gil scored, D Eckstein to second. T Salmon singled to left center, D Eckstein scored, D Erstad to third. G Anderson singled to right center, D Erstad scored, T Salmon to third. T Glaus flied out to shallow right. S Spiezio singled to left, T Salmon scored, G Anderson to second. R Mendoza relieved D Wells. S Wooten singled to right center, G Anderson scored, S Spiezio to third. B Molina doubled to deep left, S Spiezio and S Wooten scored. O Hernandez relieved R Mendoza. B Gil singled to center, B Molina to third. D Eckstein flied out to center. (8 Runs, 10 Hits, 0 Errors) NY YANKEES 2, ANAHEIM 9.

NY YANKEES 6TH: B Donnelly relieved J Washburn. J Posada homered to right center. R Mondesi flied out to left center. N Johnson hit for R Coomer. N Johnson struck out swinging. R Ventura walked. J Rivera grounded out to third. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) NY YANKEES 3, ANAHEIM 9.

NY YANKEES 7TH: A Soriano popped out to shallow right. D Jeter singled to left. S Schoeneweis relieved B Donnelly. Ja Giambi singled to right, D Jeter to second. F Rodriguez relieved S Schoeneweis. B Williams walked, D Jeter to third, Ja Giambi to second. D Jeter scored, Ja Giambi to third, B Williams to second on wild pitch by F Rodriguez. J Posada struck out swinging. R Mondesi walked. N Johnson grounded out to pitcher. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) NY YANKEES 4, ANAHEIM 9.

NY YANKEES 9TH: A Kennedy at second base. T Percival relieved F Rodriguez. A Ochoa in right field. D Jeter struck out swinging. Ja Giambi flied out to shallow left center. B Williams singled to center. B Williams to second on fielder's indifference. J Posada singled to right, B Williams to third. R Mondesi reached on infield single to second, B Williams scored, J Posada to second. N Johnson popped out to shortstop. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) NY YANKEES 5, ANAHEIM 9.

Jarrod Washburn was the winning pitcher in game 4.


David Eckstein turns two.


Shawn Wooten led off the 5th with a game-tying home run.


David Wells melted in the sun.


Percival pitched the 9th.


Benjie Molina and Troy Percival celebrate the Angels' first ever playoff series victory.


Tim Salmon douses Darin Erstad.