Yankees Win AL East

B A L T I M O R E, Sept. 30 -- It didn’t matter to the New York Yankees that they had just absorbed their fifth straight loss, a 13-2 embarrassment against the Baltimore Orioles.

And the Yankees offered no apologies for capturing their thirdstraight AL East title on a night when their winningest pitcher wasvictimized by a 10-run inning and the offense once again sputtered.

The Yankees were quite content to back into the playoffs tonight when the Boston Red Sox lost to Tampa Bay 8-6. It is thefirst time they reached the postseason in six straight seasons.

They celebrated in appropriate fashion, dousing each other withchampagne that had been on ice for so long that it should have beenfrozen in the bottle.

Celebrated Despite Loss

“I guess that’s the secret to having a big lead, that you cansquander it. Now that this is over with, we can concentrate on whatwe want to do,” manager Joe Torre said, seconds before he absorbeda champagne shower, courtesy of shortstop Derek Jeter.

Although the Yankees have lost 13 of 16 and dropped their lastthree games by a combined 35-6 score, the two-time defending WorldSeries champions will enter the postseason coming off the 38thfirst-place finish in franchise history.

“We won the division, this is every team’s goal. We deserve tocelebrate,” Jeter said.

But the Yankees are struggling. They’ve lost seven straight onthe road and managed only six hits Friday after Torre held a rareteam meeting before the game in an effort to reverse the losingtrend.

“It’s been tough. Obviously you don’t like to lose and we,basically, have been getting blown out,” Jeter said. “So, we’vegot to change some things around, change our luck around, and we’vegot a couple of days to do it.”

The final score of the Boston-Tampa Bay game was posted on thescoreboard with New York batting in the ninth. Some Yankees fans atCamden Yards stood and cheered the result.