Roger Clemens pitches the best postseason game of his career and has the Yankees close to another World Series. (AP)

The team that has been called vulnerable, aging, worn and old as recently as last Sunday can clinch a spot in its fourth World Series in the past five seasons.

They will not go away.

"They're not dominating," said ex-Yankees outfielder Reggie Jackson, who is something of an expert on October himself. "They're not what they were. But it's the old cliché ... it's a team that knows how to win.

"You sit in the other dugout and you're saying, 'Oh, ----, they're out of their slump. They figured it out.'"

That's probably exactly what Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez was thinking when Clemens' first two pitches in the first dusted him, rattling his cage for the rest of the game.

That's probably exactly what the Mariners were thinking as they stepped into the batter's box for each of their 30 plate appearances against Clemens, who mowed them down with the power of a John Deere and with the precision of your basic name brand weed whacker.

That's probably exactly what Al Martin was thinking when Clemens, 38, whizzed a 96-mph fastball by him in the ninth inning to set an ALCS record by striking out 15 in a nine-inning game.

Oh, ----.

Clemens no-hit the Mariners for six innings, and the only hit he allowed over nine -- Martin's leadoff double in the seventh -- ticked off first baseman Tino Martinez's glove as it made its way down the right-field line.

That's by how much Clemens missed pitching a no-hitter Saturday.

Maybe a millimeter.

"That was total dominance tonight," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

Clemens silenced both the Mariners and the Safeco Field crowd of 47,803 from the beginning. He allowed one baserunner in the first inning -- walking Rodriguez -- and then annihilated the next 16 Mariners. Only two even managed to coax the ball out of the infield. The rest either struck out, popped up or grounded out.

"He was dominant today, just incredible," Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams said.

Has Williams ever seen him this dominant?

"Yeah, but usually when he was pitching against us," Williams said of the pre-1999 Clemens. "I think tonight he was the Roger when I first faced him in the early '90s."

It was a sight to behold. When Clemens was finished with this complete-game masterpiece, there was a long trail strewn with wasted Mariners and awe-struck Yankees.

"That was one of the best games I've ever seen," Williams said.

It was one of the best postseason games Torre has ever seen, and the skipper has been hanging around this game in one capacity or another since 1960.

"It's really tough to beat this one for a postseason game," Torre said. "Don Larsen's postseason game (a perfect game in the 1956 World Series, the only one in Series history) was pretty damn good. This was total dominance tonight. I just felt very comfortable watching him pitch."

Maybe we should have seen this coming, being that Clemens was cushioned by a six-day rest between starts. But on the other hand, as dominant as he's been over his 17-year-career, he's been just as vulnerable in the postseason. In all previous postseason appearances -- including playoffs and World Series -- Clemens was 3-5 with a 4.32 ERA when he took the mound Saturday.

"Tonight was special," Clemens said. "I knew I was going to be strong. I tried not to do the things I needed to do so I would not overthrow. But my fastball was very much alive, and I just knew I needed to try to harness it early."

Clemens had all three of his pitches working -- fastball, split-finger fastball and slider. He called his splitter "my best of the year."

"It was really dancing and doing everything I asked it to do," he said. "And once I have that, with my velocity, it's fun."

Rodriguez entered the game with a career batting average of .341 against Clemens. Saturday, he went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

"That's the best I've seen him throw," Rodriguez said. "He didn't throw anything over the middle of the plate. The book on him is that usually he'll throw at least one pitch over the plate, and you'd better get it. Tonight, he didn't."

As a result, the Yankees are nine innings away from spending another week at their own personal retreat.

The president of the United States has Camp David, the Yankees have Camp Fall Classic.

Say what you will, but it's much easier to drive a colony of ants off your kitchen counter and out of your house than it is to keep the Yankees out of late October.

No matter how vulnerable they might appear.