Head over heels

ARLINGTON, Texas – High above Rangers Ballpark, on a night when rain threatened to spoil the biggest night in Texas Rangers history, a breeze from the south blew steadily.

The flags atop the home-run porch in right field were waving proudly, including the rookie of the bunch.

It reads: 2010 American League Champions.

The Rangers will play in the World Series for the first time in franchise history after closing out the A.L. championship series in Game 6 on Friday night with a 6-1 victory over the mighty New York Yankees.

Colby Lewis allowed only a run on three hits in eight innings, and Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz came up big with two outs in a four-run fifth to help the Rangers clinch the best-of-7 series four games to two.

A sellout crowd of 51,404 was thrown into a state of delirium as soon as the last out was made, and the Rangers swarmed the field in a heap of white jerseys as they celebrated the first league pennant in team history.

A trip to San Francisco or Philadelphia awaits the Rangers. The World Series begins Wednesday at the home ballpark of the National League champs.

“We hung together,” said manager Ron Washington. “We stuck together. We cared about one another. We supported one another. That’s how you get to this point.”

Lewis, in his first season back from Japan, stifled a potent Yankees lineup that scored a baseball-best 859 runs during the regular season. He struck out seven and walked three while throwing 102 pitches.

He struck out the side in his final inning and beat the Yankees for the second time in the series.

“Last year I was sitting at home watching all of this going on,” said Lewis, who held Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano hitless in seven at-bats. “I thought I was going to be going back to Japan for two more years. I’m just so thankful that the Rangers brought me back.”

The offense, meanwhile, continued to punish Yankees pitching. Elvis Andrus was the catalyst again in the first inning, starting with a double and scoring on a groundout by Guerrero.

In the fifth, Guerrero, the designated hitter, roped a Phil Hughes curveball beyond the reach of speedy center fielder Curtis Granderson to drive in two for a 3-1 lead.

David Robertson entered in relief to face Cruz, and was in control of the at-bat with five straight curveballs.

But the sixth pitch was a fastball that cut over the plate, and Cruz hammered it 417 feet for a 5-1 lead.