MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- After so many October misses, Alex Rodriguez delivered the playoff performance his talent demanded.

Rodriguez and Jorge Posada hit seventh-inning home runs to spoil Carl Pavano's opportunity to frustrate New Yorkers one more time, and the Yankees advanced to their first AL championship series in five years with a 4-1 victory and sweep of Minnesota Sunday night.

Mariano Rivera closed out Game 3 -- the last baseball game at the Metrodome -- to preserve Andy Pettitte's record-tying 15th career postseason win.

Game 1 of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels will be at Yankee Stadium Friday night. The teams were 5-5 against each this season.

"It's exciting," Rodriguez said. "We were very disappointed last year when we went home, and ownership got us some good players. We came out and played like a team, like a group of brothers."

This pitching duel between former teammates Pettitte and Pavano ended with another first-round playoff victory in Minnesota for the Yankees, who also eliminated the Twins here in 2003 and 2004.

"I was trying to match zeros with him," Pettitte said.

For all their success this decade by being so good at the basics, the Twins made glaring gaffes at the worst times -- against the team that led the majors with 103 wins, they were doomed.

Nick Punto wasted his leadoff double in the eighth by failing to see that Denard Span's single didn't get past shortstop Derek Jeter, and he was thrown out trying to retreat to third base.

Pavano's renaissance was upstaged by Rodriguez, who's starting to make up for all those past postseasonr failures, and Posada, who proved he wasn't too proud to publicly wish he started Game 2.

Rodriguez went 5-for-11 with two homers and six RBI in these three games.

Posada gave Rivera more room with an RBI single in a two-run ninth against the Minnesota bullpen.

The Yankees haven't experienced that euphoria since 2000, the Pettitte-Posada battery, closer Rivera and captain Jeter the only pieces left from that squad.

The Twins left 26 runners on base the first two games, including 17 in the 11-inning defeat in Game 2, failing to get those big hits.

The Twins enjoyed a power surge during the regular season, but they didn't go deep at all in this series. The AL East champion Yankees hit six homers.