Joe Torre reaches to embrace World Series MVP Derek Jeter after the Yanks' fourth title in five years.(AP)

By the time the dust settled on center fielder Jay Payton's throwing error to the plate, Sojo was standing on third and the Yankees were standing atop the baseball world.

Again.

The final score was 4-2, thanks to Andy Pettitte's left arm, a lineup that applies pressure until the opponents crack, and an assassin of a closer in Mariano Rivera.

It took a trip to Queens for the Bronx Zoo to prove not only that it has the best baseball club in the city of New York, but the best baseball club in the major leagues.

Again.

"It was the best World Series I've ever been in," exclaimed Yankees reliever Jeff Nelson, who has participated in each of the club's four Series since 1996. "Especially being a Subway Series. You didn't realize how much electricity there was until you got to Yankee Stadium (for Game 1), and it was going crazy. There was a mix of fans at Shea. It shows this is the No. 1 sports city."

Said first baseman Tino Martinez: "When you win back-to-back titles and then play the Mets in the World Series, you've got to win. If you don't win, you've got to get out of town."

Yes, the only thing more consistent than pinstripes today is the world championship trophy sitting in the Yankees' executive offices. The way things have gone lately, they might as well build a permanent display.

In winning the 26th world championship in their rich and storied history, the Yankees became the first team since the 1972-1974 Oakland A's to win three in a row.

It is only the fourth time in baseball history that a team has won three or more consecutive world titles. The Yankees won five in a row between 1949 and 1953, they won four in a row between 1936 and 1939, and the early '70s Athletics won three consecutive titles.

Their current run -- three in a row and four in five years -- is the most impressive of all, largely because, thanks to expansion, 29 other clubs have been vying for the title since 1998.

"It means a lot, man," said center fielder Bernie Williams, who dramatically stepped out of a 0-for-22 World Series slump (dating back to last year) by slamming a second inning homer against Leiter to put the Yanks on the scoreboard first. "In this day and age, the way baseball is right now, with people changing teams so often, it's amazing to accomplish this."

As Williams spoke, champagne flowed throughout the Yankees clubhouse. Three laundry carts that had been filled with dozens of bottles of Korbel Brut were left with nothing but the ice. Corks and labels littered the clubhouse floor.

"You can get drunk just off the smell of this," said Jose Canseco, more of an interested bystander than an active participant after joining the club at midseason.

The celebration quickly became too large for the tiny visiting clubhouse in Shea Stadium to contain and, soon, the Yankees headed to the field en masse to continue their celebration. This couldn't have been more fitting, as, over the past three seasons, nothing else in baseball has been able to contain the Yankees, either.

"This is as good as any team I've ever had, for courage and heart," owner George Steinbrenner said.

This also was perhaps the most emotional of the Yankees' most recent three World Series celebrations because the future of several key players is more uncertain than ever. Pitcher David Cone, 37, almost certainly won't be back. Martinez, 33, and right fielder Paul O'Neill, 37, each slowed noticeably during the season. O'Neill is a free agent this winter, and although the Yankees already have picked up Martinez's option for 2001, a trade remains a possibility.

As the players left the clubhouse for the field, an emotional O'Neill took his wife, Nevalee, and a half-dozen others who apparently were either family members or close friends to an area in left-center field where they could celebrate in private. Once there, O'Neill popped the cork on a bottle of champagne high into the air, and the group celebrated in as much privacy as they could find.

"Looking back, it was an unbelievable experience," O'Neill said, already speaking in the past tense. "While it's going on, you can't enjoy it. Now, you can, and it's unbelievable."

Said Gene Michael, special assistant to general manager Brian Cashman: "I don't know how to describe it. This team has so much heart."

This is a team that put together the worst finish to a season in Yankees history, losing its final seven games and 15 of its final 18. The Yankees suffered significant injuries to Knoblauch and pitchers Roger Clemens, Orlando Hernandez and Ramiro Mendoza. They endured the slow erosion brought on by age, and the constant internal pressure produced by Steinbrenner.

Yet, in the end, they conquered everything that came at them.

And in the end, the Mets became simply another discarded sports drink bottle along the Yankees' freeway into history.

Once again on Thursday, they hung right with the Yankees.

Once again, they tried to extend the series.

Once again, they failed.

Leiter was terrific, but manager Bobby Valentine left him in one inning too long. It was the only mistake Valentine made all night. He jockeyed his lineup, benching right fielder Timo Perez and shortstop Mike Bordick in favor of Bubba Trammell and Kurt Abbott. Trammell drew a walk, scored a run and collected a single.

But once again, when they needed the key hit to break the game open -- they led 2-1 until the top of the sixth -- they failed to find it. In the end, they stranded 10 baserunners.

"We came within one game of sweeping our third World Series in a row," Nelson said. "We came within one game of winning 16 World Series games in a row.

"It's incredible. We're playing the best in the National League -- San Diego, Atlanta, the Mets. And now, we have to get through two rounds to get (to the World Series).

"It's amazing, what these guys in here have done."

The Mets put a runner aboard with one out against Rivera in the ninth, but Edgardo Alfonzo -- who had an awful series, batting .143 - flied to right and Mike Piazza pounded a deep fly ball to center.

When the ball settled into Williams' glove, the pandemonium -- and the discussion of the Yankees' place in history -- began.

"Oh my gosh," Williams said. "I've got the ball now. I'm going to have everybody sign it."

Here's to the champions.

Again, again ... and, now, again.