Now, their generations-old inferiority complex to the Yankees is over. Now, the single biggest postseason flop in baseball history does not belong to some Red Sox team or Boston goat such as Bill Buckner. Instead, the new and uncontested champions of the October gag are the New York Yankees. And the greatest, gutsiest, most nearly impossible comeback to steal a pennant in all the annals of baseball now belongs to the self-proclaimed "idiots" of the '04 Red Sox.

The hero of the night, even more than ALCS MVP David Ortiz and winning pitcher Derek Lowe, was Johnny Damon, the hair-down-the-back free spirit who symbolizes the wacky Red Sox clubhouse. Damon, the epitome of all the Boston anti-Yankees, had the game of a lifetime in this game for the ages: two homers and six RBI.

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Finally, Red Sox familiarity with the Yankees has bred a healthy contempt.

That process of demythologizing the Yankees, and all their pretentious baggage of tradition and mystique, was at the core of an historic game on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium that not only won a pennant for the Red Sox but drove a permanent stake through the notion that the Yankees have some eternal mastery of the Red Sox, based in magic, money or moxie.

The two ancient enemies have now played each other 52 times in the last two seasons, including 14 times in two incendiary championship series. Each game has been treated by fanatic partisans on both sides as tantamount to a World Series game. No punches have been pulled or strategies held back. Every gift that every player has to offer has been laid on the table countless times. Teams have been able to study opposing stars in nearly 250 at-bats. No secret, tendency or flaw remains hidden.

As a result, the Red Sox now know to the bone that Derek Jeter does not get a hit in the clutch every time and that some silly Ghost of Ruth doesn't really haunt Yankee Stadium as soon as midnight tolls. Like small children suddenly discovering adolescence and their parents' human flaws, the Red Sox have, at last, opened their eyes and seen the Yankees for what they are -- a very good baseball team. But nothing more. And this season, not as good a team as the Red Sox, not even with Boston's ace Curt Schilling hobbled with an ankle injury.

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The moment when this ALCS turned, and an 84-year Yankees-Red Sox saga began an entirely new phase, was precisely midnight on Monday. Yankees superstar reliever Mariano Rivera needed three ninth-inning outs to clinch another pennant and add another ignominious chapter to defeatist Red Sox lore. But Rivera blew that save. And another one 22 hours later.

From the moment of that first squandered save, the Yankees became a different team. After that, New York has gone into a complete clutch-hitting coma. Excluding Jeter, all the rest of the Yankees are 4 for 41 (.098) with men on base without any RBI. That constitutes a monumental team-wide clutch-hitting choke. Only Jeter, with a three-run double and two RBI singles, has driven in any base runners since Rivera's failure. The other two Yankees runs through the first seven innings of Game 7 -- a span of 33 innings -- were on solo homers by Bernie Williams.

So, the old Hall of Fame-bound Yankees who helped win four World Series -- Jeter and Williams -- have hit under pressure. But the newer Yankees, about whom Jeter has asked skeptical questions for the last four years, haven't earned their stripes.

In fact, those pinstripes may never look quite the same, quite so special and fearsome again -- at least to one team who now has their number.