OAKLAND, CALIF. ? Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez and even that maligned Boston bullpen — they all were tougher than any curse.

After Martinez’s pitching and Ramirez’s three-run homer staked the Red Sox to a lead, starter-turned-reliever Derek Lowe pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth as Boston completed a three-game playoff comeback, beating the Oakland Athletics, 4-3, Monday night in Game 5 of their AL division series.

Lowe struck out pinch-hitters Adam Melhuse and Terrence Long on called third strikes in the ninth to finish Boston’s fourth playoff series victory since its last World Series title in 1918.

“It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before,” Lowe said. “It’s a win for Boston, for the Red Sox nation.”

Boston meets the Yankees — its traditional rival — in the AL championship series starting Wednesday night in New York, but the Red Sox had to make a memorable stand in the ninth to get there.

And for once, good luck was wearing Red Sox in October.

“It feels pretty good, to tell you the truth,” Boston manager Grady Little said. “Every single game in this series was outstanding. I think it was nothing short of what people expected, and it was all brought about by some outstanding pitching by both teams.”

While Boston’s players doused each other with champagne, Oakland’s frustration extended to its fourth season. The A’s have lost nine straight games in which they could have gained postseason advancement, extending a major league record.

Many Oakland players were distraught after the final game of an extraordinarily tense series. Several Boston players took the field at the Coliseum, leading the cheers and shaking hands with more than a thousand fans who stood, screamed and chanted late into a gorgeous California night.

Boston's Damian Jackson (2) and Johnny Damon collide head-to-head in the seventh inning of the American League Division Series playoff game with Oakland.

It wasn’t so gorgeous for the Red Sox a few minutes earlier. Reliever Scott Williamson, making his fifth straight appearance for Boston, led off the inning by walking Scott Hatteberg and Jose Guillen.

Little went to Lowe, the Game 3 starter and Game 1 loser out of the bullpen. This time, Boston’s No. 2 starter came through — just barely.

After Ramon Hernandez bunted pinch-runner Eric Byrnes and Guillen into scoring position, Lowe threw a called third strike past Melhuse — the A’s seldom-used backup catcher who had three hits in Game 4 Sunday.

Lowe then walked Chris Singleton, loading the bases. The A’s countered with Long, who was just 2-for-7 in the series.

Long took an inside fastball for another called third strike — and the Boston bench and bullpen emptied onto the field in celebration.

“I looked at it, and I thought I had a chance,” Long said. “I didn’t get the hit. I thought that he would throw something up. I didn’t want to swing at a bad pitch.”

Lowe also offended the entire Oakland bench by making several obscene gestures toward the dugout after the final strikeout. Miguel Tejada was reduced to screams and tears in the clubhouse, vowing Lowe was “going to pay” for it.

Boston closer Derek Lowe, top, is picked up by catcher Jason Varitek after the final out.

A game that began as a tense duel between former Cy Young Award winners Martinez and Barry Zito became uncommonly emotional in the final innings after a scary injury to Damon, Boston’s leadoff hitter and center fielder.

Damon left the field in an ambulance following a frightening head-to-head collision with second baseman Damian Jackson. Both players were converging on Jermaine Dye’s fly ball in the seventh.

Jackson shook it off, but Damon was knocked unconscious with a concussion. The game was delayed 10 minutes until Damon, awake and alert, raised his hand to loud cheers from the Coliseum crowd as he was loaded into the ambulance on a stretcher. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Boston already was up 4-1 on Ramirez’s sixth-inning homer, punctuated by a showboating walk to first base. Oakland battled back with runs on Tejada’s double in the sixth and pinch-hitter Billy McMillon’s eighth-inning RBI single, which chased Martinez.

Boston’s relief crew got three straight outs in the eighth, but it was all just a prelude to Lowe’s season-saving work in the ninth. Afterward, Lowe was apologetic for his exuberance.

“It’s a situation where you won,” Lowe said. “I don’t even know exactly what I did. If you offended anybody, that’s not sportsmanship. If you did do something, you’re sorry, because that’s not the way you play the game.”

The Red Sox will face the Yankees in the playoffs for just the second time, following a 4-1 loss in the 1999 AL championship series. New York won 10 of 19 games against Boston during the regular season, but the Red Sox frequently teed off on Yankees pitchers.

The A’s won the first two games of a division series dominated by tight games and emotional finishes, but Boston rallied for two dramatic victories at Fenway Park last weekend characterized by key Oakland mistakes in baserunning and fielding.

“This series should have been over on Saturday night,” Singleton said. “That’s the price we pay for making a few mental mistakes.”

Martinez fell behind early but stayed strong in his duel with Zito. It was the first time in postseason history that two Cy Young Award winners faced each other in a decisive Game 5 or Game 7, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Ramirez, Boston’s imposing cleanup hitter, had just three singles in 18 at-bats before the homer off Zito. Ramirez made the most of it, standing at the plate to admire his drive before walking slowly up the baseline while pointing at his celebrating dugout.

Notes: A crowd of 49,397 was well aware of the historic implications of the decisive game. On the facing of the Coliseum’s upper deck, a fan posted a large green sign simply reading “1918;” next to it was a picture of Babe Ruth. … Ted Lilly, Oakland’s Game 3 starter, threw two hitless innings in relief. … Boston DH David Ortiz went 1-for-4, finishing 2-for-21.