Arlington, Texas ? Nelson Cruz rocketed a drive deep into the Texas night, and soon it was time for the Rangers to go really wild — and straight to their first World Series.

Texas Rangers players celebrate beating the New York Yankees in Game 6 of the ALCS. The Rangers won, 6-1, on Friday in Arlington, Texas.

The celebration was a half-century in the making.

“The World Series is coming to Texas,” said Michael Young, the longest-tenured Ranger in his 10th season. “These fans have waited longer than we have. I know how bad we wanted it, and they must have wanted it more.”

Texas clinched its first pennant with a 6-1 victory over the defending World Series champion New York Yankees in Game 6 of the AL championship series Friday night for the biggest victory in the franchise’s 50 seasons.

Vladimir Guerrero, going to baseball’s biggest stage for the first time in his 15 major-league seasons, drove in three runs before scoring on Cruz’s homer in the fifth that sent a rollicking crowd of 51,404 into a red frenzy.

When Alex Rodriguez took a called third strike to end the game, fireworks exploded in the sky high above, confetti filled the air, and the Rangers embraced each other near the mound.

“Totally worth the wait, totally,” Young said.

Having A-Rod standing at the plate for the game-ending out and beating the Yankees made it even more satisfying for fans deep in the heart of Texas.

The Yankees, with their 27 World Series titles and 40 pennants, had knocked Texas out of the playoffs in each of the club’s three previous appearances.

And Rodriguez was one the largest unsecured creditors owed money by the Rangers in a messy bankruptcy case this summer before a group led by Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg bought the team from Tom Hicks in an auction. A-Rod was owned about $25 million in deferred compensation for his three seasons (2001-03) when Texas finished last in the AL West each time.

The Rangers, who had never won a postseason series or a home playoff game before this year, dispatched the $200 million-plus Bronx Bombers with little drama — especially after that four-run outburst in the fifth snapped a 1-all tie.

“We didn’t accomplish what we set out to. And as I told my guys, this hurts,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “I’ve been through it as a player. I’ve been through it as a coach, and now I’ve been through it as a manager. It’s not a lot of fun watching other teams celebrate. They beat us. They outhit us, they outpitched us, outplayed us and they beat us.”

Colby Lewis dominated over eight innings for his second win of the series, and Josh Hamilton earned the ALCS MVP award. And in a state where most sports fans gear up for fall weekends by watching high school football, the Rangers gave a new meaning to Friday Night Lights.

Rangers icon Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher who is the team president, embraced his wife in the front row before going on the field to join the club.

“Our fans have waited a long time, this organization has waited a long time,” Ryan said. “This team coming out of spring training was on a mission.”

Hamilton, who homered four times in the series, admitted he shed a tear in center field right before the final out.

“We are here as a group. This group is here because they don’t know how to fail,” Hamilton said.

Moments after closer Neftali Feliz fanned Rodriguez for the final out, a flag proclaiming the Texas as the AL champion flapped above the ballpark. The Rangers celebrated on the field with ginger ale in deference to Hamilton’s well-documented substance-abuse problems.

Players dumped the contents of a water cooler on fourth-year manager Ron Washington, who in the summer of the 2009 wasn’t even sure he’d keep his job after admitting to using cocaine once. But Ryan and general manager Jon Daniels stuck by Washington then and again last spring when the story became public.

Cliff Lee was waiting if needed by the Rangers for a deciding Game 7 against the Yankees. Now the ace left-hander can rest up for Game 1 of the World Series, on Wednesday night in either San Francisco or Philadelphia. The Giants lead the NLCS, 3-2.

The Rangers outplayed the Yankees in every facet. Along with their slugging, they showed off something Ryan has brought them — a culture where pitching rules and starters expect to go deep into games.

A championship is quite a feat for the franchise that began in 1961 as the expansion Washington Senators and moved to Texas in 1972 with Ted Williams as their manager.

By reaching the World Series in the franchise’s 50th season, the last 39 in Texas, it marks the longest it has taken a club to get there for the first time. Montreal/Washington (42 seasons) and Seattle (34) haven’t yet made it.

Hamilton wins MVP: Josh Hamilton had spooked the Yankees so much by Game 6, they threw the ball to the backstop when trying to issue him an intentional walk.

That’s the kind of impact an MVP makes.

Hamilton is the most valuable player of the American League championship series after hitting four homers and driving in seven in the six-game series, leading the Texas Rangers to their first World Series appearance.

The tattooed slugger hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat in Game 1 and just kept hurting the Yankees — expect when he was intentionally walked. New York gave him an intentional pass an ALCS-record five times, three on Friday night.