Angels book first ticket to World Series

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Once Adam Kennedy and Anaheim broke out their own Thunder Stix, there was no doubt -- the Angels were going to the World Series for the first time.

Kennedy hit his third homer of the game in the seventh inning Sunday and the Angels erupted for a 13-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins to win the AL championship series in five games.

His final homer brought Anaheim back from a 5-3 deficit in a 10-run inning and made him just the fifth player to homer three times in a postseason game.

"Oh, man. This is tremendous," Kennedy said. "We worked hard the last few years to bring it all together and we finally got it done."

The Angels, who joined the major leagues in 1961, blew past the New York Yankees to win their first-round series 3-1, then humiliated a Twins team in a seventh inning that saw 15 Anaheim batters come to the plate against Santana, J.C. Romero, LaTroy Hawkins and Bob Wells. The 10 runs tied the postseason record.

Anaheim, which had been one of only seven major league franchises without a pennant, will open at home Saturday against the NL champion, either San Francisco or St. Louis.

"It's the biggest game of my life," said Kennedy, who has 23 regular-season homers in his career and four in this year's playoffs. "I'm going to enjoy this for a while and then get back to work."

Twice before, the Angels had been one victory away from the World Series, but failed to make it. They lost three straight games to Milwaukee in 1982 and three in a row to Boston four years later, when they were one strike away before Dave Henderson's home run off Donnie Moore.

Founding owner Gene Autry, who died in 1998, never got to fulfill his dream of watching his team in a World Series game.

When David Eckstein caught the final out -- just as he did in the division series -- he ran over to Kennedy and tapped gloves, then danced with Tim Salmon.

The Angels jumped on each other in a mob between first base and the mound. Fans cheered as Salmon, the team's senior member, ran around with the AL championship trophy. Closer Troy Percival, in his undershirt, joined teammates for a lap around the field.

"It does more than validate how good these guys are," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

After losing Tuesday's opener at the Metrodome, the wild-card Angels won four in a row. And they did it against one of baseball's great survivors.

Anticipating their team finally would ascend to the Series, some fans showed up dressed as angels, complete with wings. Others held their "rally monkeys" and, fittingly, the pitcher who started the game that put the team in the World Series is called "Ape" by his teammates -- Kevin Appier.

Through it all, they pounded together their Thunder Stix, long plastic batons that filled Edison Field with a steady drumbeat.

The Twins, who made the playoffs after surviving the attempt by baseball players to fold them, had had won six straight postseason games when facing elimination, including two games in the first round against Oakland.