David Justice's homer ignites the Yankees' offense in Game 6.(AP)

Yankees manager Joe Torre went even further.

"It'll split a few families up, I think," he said. "I have a feeling the city is not going to be the same for the next 10 days -- and maybe after that."

Despite his worst October outing, Yankees starter Orlando Hernandez lasted seven innings and became the first pitcher ever to go 8-0 in postseason play.

With Seattle ahead 4-3 in the seventh inning, Justice hit a pitch from Arthur Rhodes into the right-field upper deck for a three-run homer that earned him the series MVP award.

Yankee Stadium shook.

"It was magical," said Justice, one of seven players on the 25-man roster acquired during the season. "It was unbelievable when I rounded the bases, to see this place erupt."

This pennant meant even more for the Yankees, given how many people had their doubts after they finished the regular season with 15 losses in 18 games.

"We were written off," Justice said. "We stuck together."

Paul O'Neill added a two-run single and Jose Vizcaino, whose infield single started the inning, hit a sacrifice fly for a 9-4 lead.

Alex Rodriguez, who went 4-for-5 in perhaps his final game for the Mariners, homered leading off the eighth and Hernandez left after a walk.

Mariano Rivera relieved and allowed an RBI double to John Olerud, then a two-run double by Mark McLemore that hit off first base as two more runs scored, ending his postseason scoreless streak at 33 1/3 innings over three years.

But Rivera held on in the ninth as the Yankees won their record 37th American League pennant and their third in a row.

Just 24 hours, 38 minutes after Timo Perez caught the final out of the NLCS at Shea Stadium, about 8 miles away, the final out of the Yankees tense season ended when Edgar Martinez grounded to shortstop with a runner on at 12:17 a.m.

And so a half century after Willie, Mickey and the Duke dominated baseball, it will be Bernie, Benny and El Duque at Yankee Stadium starting Saturday night, the first Subway Series since the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956.

"I was at that last one, when Don Larsen pitched the perfect game against Brooklyn," Torre said.

Even Justice, a New Yorker for less than six months, appreciated the significance.

"New York can't lose," he said. "Everything is going on between the city limits."

Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a life-long Yankees fan, made it clear who he wants to win.

"It's going to be enormously exciting," he said.

The Mets watched carefully from afar as the scene unfolded in the Bronx. They said all the pressure is on the Yankees.

"When you're the defending champion and the team to beat, people gun for you all year long and play their best baseball against you," Mets general manager Steve Phillips said.

Seattle stormed to a 4-0 lead against the two-time, defending World Series champions, getting consecutive RBI doubles from Rodriguez and Martinez in the first, and a two-run, upper-deck homer from light-hitting Carlos Guillen in the fourth.

"The bottom line is they scored more runs than we did," McLemore said. "It doesn't matter if we started off 15-0."

But John Halama, a Brooklynite who blanked the Yankees for six innings in Game 2, was chased in the third, when Jorge Posada hit a two-run double and O'Neill, fighting the biggest batting worst slump of his life, singled in a run on the next pitch.

Hernandez and Mariners reliever Brett Tomko both escaped jams in the middle innings, getting defensive help from their All-Star shortstops.

And then the game turned in a 39-minute seventh inning -- roughly the time it takes to go from Yankee Stadium to Shea, if the change of trains at Grand Central Terminal goes smoothly.

Tomko didn't allow a hit in 2 2/3 innings, but he threw 51 pitches, a high amount for a reliever, and Jose Paniagua relieved to start the seventh.

Vizcaino, one of the seven players on the postseason roster the Yankees added during the season, started the inning with a perfectly placed single in the hole between first and second base.

McLemore got to it, but his throw from short right field was just a little too late.

Chuck Knoblauch sacrificed him to second and Jeter singled just between Rodriguez, his rival and pal, and Guillen at third.

Seattle manager Lou Piniella, who like his free agent shortstop may have spent his final night in a Mariners uniform, then brought in Rhodes.

In Game 2, the Yankees trailed 1-0 and had been shut out for 21 innings when Justice doubled off Rhodes, sparking a seven-run eighth inning that gave New York a 7-1 win and tied the series.

In that game, umpires angered Justice by ruling he didn't check a swing on a 1-1 pitch,

This time, he got the call on a close 2-1 pitch.

"I was pretty sure he went around," Rhodes said. "2-2, it makes a difference on my pitch selection."

Fans were on their feet. The upper deck swayed back and forth, and Justice sent the ball on an arc, a no-doubt homer from the moment he hit it.

"At 3-1, I came back with a fastball," Rhodes said, "I didn't want to walk the bases loaded."

Justice, a June acquisition from Cleveland, gave double high-fives when he met Jeter and Vizcaino at home plate, more high-fives to Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez and Luis Sojo by the dugout, then slammed his helmet down, adrenaline rushing through his veins.

Hernandez, who had never before allowed more than three earned runs in a postseason game, gave up six runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings.

Notes

• The Yankees are the first team to win three straight pennants since Oakland from 1988-90. Teams have won three straight 17 times, with the Yankees accomplishing it nine times.
• It will be the 14th Subway Series. The Yankees held a 4-2 edge over the New York Giants and 6-1 over the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• Dan Wilson's soft single to right leading off the fifth stopped a record 42 at-bat hitless streak in postseason play and a 26 at-bat hitless streak in the LCS. Marv Owen went 0-for-31 for Detroit in 1934 and '35.