New York celebrates quietly

NEW YORK - Hundreds of Yankees fans poured into the streets of New York early today to celebrate the team's 27th World Series championship, a party that extended uptown and began building hours earlier when the crowd at Yankee Stadium danced and sang to the music even before the first pitch.

Fans in Yankees jerseys and hats who watched the 7-3 victory over the Phillies at sports bar Stout spilled out onto 33rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues early today in Manhattan.

Greeted by an NYPD van, several patrol cars with lights flashing and officers standing on street corners, they remained well-behaved. New York City police said there were no early reports of disturbances related to the victory.

A ticker-tape parade and ceremony to honor the team has been scheduled for tomorrow.

Outside the team's $1.3 billion ballpark in the Bronx, 16-year-old Ryan Wessel of Somers, N.Y., bought two Yankees hat right after the game. He reveled in the team's win, underscored by Hideki Matsui's record-tying six RBI. Matsui was named World Series MVP.

"He definitely should have gotten it," Wessel said. "He's my favorite player."

Fans at Stout yelled, "MVP! MVP! MVP!" every time Matsui came to bat.

The three-level bar was packed most of last night with fans from as far away as San Diego hanging on every pitch as they watched Game 6 on flat-screen televisions.

"It's phenomenal," said Robert Christiansen, 41, of Malverne, N.Y. "It's all you can ask for."

When Yankees lefthander Damaso Marte struck out Phillies second baseman Chase Utley on three pitches with two runners on to end the top of the seventh inning, a sense of relief overcame the packed house at Stout.

The crowd responded to the strikeout by chanting: "Yankees! Yankees! Yankees!"