The Sox ownership team of John W. Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino watched the winner-take-all finale from a box next to the team's dugout while Terry Francona's crew avenged some of the most heartbreaking losses in franchise history to the Yankees. Those defeats included Game 7 last year, the 1978 playoff game for the division title that turned on Dent's home run, and a pair of games in 1949 when the Sox needed to win only one to clinch the pennant.

The Sox seized the lead Wednesday night by hammering Brown for five runs in just 1 1/3 innings and Vazquez for three runs over two.

The game appeared to take a bleak turn for the Sox within minutes of the first pitch, which was pushed back to 8:30 p.m. by Fox to accommodate its broadcast schedule. After Damon singled leading off the first inning — only his fourth hit in seven games — he stole second while Brown was busy striking out Mark Bellhorn. But when Manny Ramirez grounded a one-out single to left, third base coach Dale Sveum waved Damon home, where Jorge Posada was waiting with the tag after taking Derek Jeter's relay from Hideki Matsui.

But no sooner did Damon pick himself up and dust himself off than Ortiz picked up Sveum by belting the next pitch from Brown (an 88-mile-per-hour fastball) into the right-field stands for a two-run shot, his third homer of the series and fourth of the postseason.

Lowe took the 2-0 lead and ran with it, retiring the Yankees in order quickly in the first to give the Sox another shot at Brown.

Kevin Millar, for the second straight night, started a big rally, this time lining a one-out single up the middle. Brown then did the Yankees no favors by issuing consecutive walks to Bill Mueller and Orlando Cabrera to load the bases for Damon, who was homerless in the postseason.

No longer. With Brown gone after his brief run of ineffectiveness, the Yankees summoned Vazquez, the former Expo the Sox had coveted in recent years. They liked Vazquez even more after Damon jolted the Empire by drilling Vazquez's first pitch into the right-field seats for the grand slam.

Damon's slam, which put the Sox up, 6-0, was only the second in postseason history for the Sox. Troy O'Leary hit the first in Game 5 of the 1999 Division Series against the Indians in Cleveland.

Lowe responded by holding the Yankees scoreless in the bottom of the second, allowing only a harmless two-out walk to Posada.