New York ? The Curse lives.

The New York Yankees won their 39th American League championship Thursday night, and in the process added another chapter to the tortured history of the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees won a see-it-to-believe-it seventh game of the AL Championship Series, 6-5, at Yankee Stadium on Aaron Boone’s leadoff home run off Tim Wakefield in the bottom of the 11th inning.

The Yanks had trailed, 5-2, with one out in the bottom of the eighth before rallying to tie the score against Boston ace Pedro Martinez, who stayed at the party a little too long.

The eighth-inning rally and Boone’s game-winner seemed to confirm the notion that there is magic in those vaunted pinstripes.

The Yanks will play the Florida Marlins in Game 1 of the World Series Saturday night at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox will go home to Boston and cry.

And cry.

And cry.

New York's Aaron Boone celebrates his solo home run in the 11th inning. Boone's blast lifted the Yankees to a 6-5 victory over the Red Sox in Game 7 of the AL championship series Thursday in New York.

That’s how painful this loss was for the Red Sox and their long-suffering fans.

The Red Sox were five outs away from advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1986.

Then disaster struck.

Maybe it was the Curse of the Bambino, the hex that was said to have been placed on the Red Sox when they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.

Or maybe it was just a bad decision by Boston manager Grady Little, who elected to stick with a tiring Martinez.

Whatever the case, the Red Sox, who led 4-0 after 31/2 innings, blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the eighth.

New York's Jason Giambi watches the flight of the first of his two home runs. The Boston catcher pictured is Jason Varitek, and the umpire is Tim McClelland. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 6-5, Thursday night in New York to advance to the World Series.

Martinez had allowed just one run through six innings, but he appeared to be getting tired in the seventh. He allowed his second homer of the game — both were hit by Jason Giambi — in that inning, making it a 4-2 game.

The Red Sox went back up by three runs in the top of the eighth on a homer by David Ortiz off David Wells, who was used as a reliever.

In the bottom of the eighth, with Martinez running out of gas and Yankee Stadium rocking, the home team mixed its latest potion of October magic.

Derek Jeter smacked a one-out double. Bernie Williams singled him home, making the score 5-3. Little visited the mound but stuck with Martinez.

Hideki Matsui kept the Yanks rolling with a ground-rule double to right, putting runners on second and third for Jorge Posada, who tied the score with a double that dropped between shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, second baseman Todd Walker, and center fielder Johnny Damon.

Finally, Little went to his bullpen, bringing in lefty Alan Embree, who retired Giambi on a fly ball for the second out.

Little then brought in Mike Timlin, who walked pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra intentionally. He then walked Karim Garcia unintentionally to load the bases with Alfonso Soriano coming up.

Soriano hit the ball hard, but it bounced right to Walker, who flipped to Garciaparra to end the inning and keep the score 5-5.

The night had begun with Roger Clemens struggling on the mound for the Yankees. He didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.

Mariano Rivera, the ace closer, was the Yankees’ last pitcher of the game. He hurled three shutout innings to set the scene for Boone, who hit Wakefield’s first pitch to him into the left-field seats, igniting one of the biggest on-field celebrations of a Yankees run that will now include a sixth World Series appearance in eight years.

Boone began the game on the bench. He was just 2-for-16 in the series before his game-winning home run.

Rivera was named the series’ most valuable player.

This was the first time a Game 7 was needed to determine the AL champion since 1986, when the Red Sox beat the California Angels.

The Sox came back from a deficit of three games to one to win that series. Who was the starting and winning pitcher in the deciding game? You guessed it — Clemens.

This was just the fifth Game 7 in Yankee Stadium history. The Yanks won Game 7 of the 1947 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. But they lost Game 7s in 1926 (to St. Louis), 1955 (to Brooklyn) and 1957 (to Milwaukee).

Game 7 of the 1926 World Series ended with Ruth’s getting thrown out trying to steal second base with the Yankees down by one run.

Like Ruth, Clemens has worn the uniform of the Red Sox and the Yankees in his career. He someday will join the Bambino in the Hall of Fame.

But this start was one he’d like to forget. Torre lifted him after the pitcher failed to retire any of the first three batters he faced in the fourth inning.

Kevin Millar led off the inning with a home run, giving Boston a 4-0 lead. Trot Nixon walked, and Bill Mueller singled. With runners on first and third and his team down by four runs, Torre popped out of the dugout to get Clemens.

Clemens appeared a little stunned to see Torre, but the manager had little choice.