"It's like a second job, but you've got to do it," said Bowen, 62, as he stopped to grab a newspaper.

For the second straight year, the Red Sox and New York Yankees pushed the AL Championship Series to a Game 7. But this time, the series had a surreal intensity that kept fans up way past their bedtime in Boston and in the city that never sleeps anyway.

Each of the three games before Wednesday night's finale was decided on the last pitch. One was a 14-inning marathon that lasted a postseason-record 5 hours, 49 minutes. Another was a 12-inning thriller that went until 1:22 a.m.

And Boston put together a string of three wins, becoming the first major-league team to rally from a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series.

Boston's sudden run of success against its archrivals - the team with the bigger payroll and bigger stars in a bigger city - had Red Sox fans wondering if this was "the year" their fortunes changed. Or would New York win again at the expense of the hapless Sox?

Weary Boston fans struggled between fearing the worst and hoping too hard.

"It's a killer," said Dan Fink, 23, a paralegal from Brookline. "Your hands are cold, your heart races. It's as nerve-racking an experience as a big test, a big date or a big day at the office."

Shutting the TV and turning in early is not really an option, said Steve Risti, 49, an electrician from Stoneham. "You can't leave and go to bed, because you can't sleep," he said.

Boston, of course, hasn't won the World Series since 1918 - two years before the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, leading to what has become known as the Curse of the Bambino.

New York has won 26 championships since then. Boston would just love the chance to get to the Series for the first time since 1986.

Last season, Boston was just five outs from defeating New York in Game 7 of the ALCS. But the Yankees came back from a three-run deficit and won in extra innings on Aaron Boone's home run.

This year's series has been jammed with even more drama, including Curt Schilling's brilliant pitching despite blood seeping through his sock from stitches for an ankle injury.

"He just blew me away," said Mark Keough, a registered nurse from Warwick, R.I.

Bob Smith, a lawyer from Nutley, N.J., said he got a reasonable amount of sleep Tuesday, unlike the previous two nights.

"You have to watch it," he said, "because either way it'll be historic."

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