NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rocket can rest now. The ring is his.

And, in the last game of the 20th century, their All-Century team pitcher ended all debate about which club was most dominant this decade.

For Atlanta, the loss was its record-tying eighth straight in the Series, a string that began in 1996 against the Yankees. It surely was a bitter disappointment for the Braves and manager Bobby Cox.

After winning the title in 1995, they had "Team of the '90s" engraved on their rings. Instead, they joined the New York Giants of 1910-19 as the only teams ever to lose four World Series in a decade.

Clemens and the sellout crowd of 56,752 fans, meanwhile, basked in pinstriped glory after taking an early 3-0 lead. At 37, he won his first championship.

Featuring a fastball in the mid-90s mph, Clemens struck out four and walked two in his first World Series victory -- he got two no-decisions in 1986 when his Boston Red Sox blew it against the New York Mets.

Smoltz struck out three to avoid trouble in the second inning, but could not escape in the third. Chuck Knoblauch and Derek Jeter opened with singles and a one-out intentional walk to Bernie Williams loaded the bases.

Tino Martinez followed with a hard grounder and, perhaps screened by Williams, first baseman Ryan Klesko let the ball skip off his forearm for a two-run single. With two outs, Jorge Posada hit an RBI single.

That was plenty for Clemens, who took a two-hit shutout into the eighth. The Braves then nicked him with singles by Walt Weiss and Gerald Williams, and Jeff Nelson relieved.

After Bret Boone hit an RBI single, Rivera took over and kept the Braves from doing any more damage. He got Chipper Jones on a grounder with runners at the corners to end the inning, and pitched a scoreless ninth.

Rivera ended this season with 43 scoreless innings, and extended his postseason shutout streak to 25 2/3 innings.

As if for good measure, pinch-hitter Jim Leyritz launched a solo home run in the New York eighth off Terry Mulholland. Remember, it was Leyritz's homer off Atlanta relief ace Mark Wohlers in Game 4 in 1996 that turned the momentum in the Yankees' favor.

Never has a team overcame an 0-3 deficit in the postseason, and the Yankees made sure it did not happen this time.

Clemens, often a victim of his high emotions in big games, jogged to the mound a full minute after his teammates took the field to start the night. Third baseman Scott Brosius and Jeter came in to offer words of encouragement before the first pitch.

The fans were with Clemens the whole way, standing up after he got two strikes on leadoff man Williams. Clemens finished the job, fanning Williams, and pumped his fist after retiring Jones on a grounder to end the first.

Clemens spent the rest of the game shouting to his fielders and offering congratulations. In the eighth, he was on the receiving end.

Notes
The Yankees have won their last 12 World Series game. They also won 12 straight in the Series in 1927, 1928 and 1932. ... The Yankees also share the Series record of eight consecutive losses, doing it in 1921-23. The Phillies also lost eight in a row in 1915 and 1950. ... Jeter has a 17-game postseason hitting streak, tying the record set by the Yankees' Hank Bauer in the World Series in the 1950s. ... Of the 20 teams to take a 3-0 lead in the World Series, 17 have swept. ... Whitey Ford threw out the first ball to his old batterymate, fellow Yankees Hall of Famer Yogi Berra. ... Atlanta's Brian Jordan and Andruw Jones each had only one hit in the Series. ... Eight of Leyritz's 13 postseason hits are home runs.

NEW YORK (ESPN.com news services) -- This is how the night ends, when you're Roger Clemens and you just pitched the biggest win of your life to clinch another World Series championship for the New York Yankees.

Thirty minutes after the final out of the World Series -- when you bolted for the mound and grabbed manager Joe Torre in a bear hug and found it hard to let go -- you return to the Yankee Stadium field from the clubhouse and jump on top of the dugout, leaning into the front row of the stands to hug and high-five fans.

	Derek Jeter gives the fans a little taste of the celebration.

You are a World Series champion. The ring is yours. At last.

Clemens pitched the Yankees to their second straight World Series sweep, shutting down the Atlanta Braves 4-1 Wednesday night and ending his quest for the one and only prize that eluded him.

With raucous fans waving yellow, plastic brooms all over the ballpark and Clemens bouncing around on the mound, the Yankees won their record 25th championship of the century and third in the past four years.

With a chance to make history, Clemens didn't just beat the Braves, he smothered them, never gave them a chance.

"This must be what it's like to be a Yankee," Clemens said. "This is what everybody said it was all about."

Clemens waited his entire career for this moment and, at last, commanded the October stage. Showing the form that earned him five Cy Young Awards and 247 wins in his 16 seasons, Clemens shut out Atlanta into the eighth to outduel John Smoltz.

"I knew he was going to do it," Series MVP Mariano Rivera said. "This guy was pumped up."

With the sweep of the Braves on the heels of last year's sweep of San Diego, and wins in the final four games of a 1996 World Series in which they lost the first two games, the Yankees have won their past 12 World Series games. They are 22-3 in the postseason the past two years.

"There's no question this club was very, very special," Torre said. "Having to validate what we did last year, one of those freak years when everything turns out well, and then this."

GAME 4 AT A GLANCE

Every game a hero One of the greatest pitchers of all time, Roger Clemens remains haunted by Game 6 of the 1986 World Series while with the Red Sox. He's in pinstripes now but finally got to experience World Series glory. Clemens allowed only four hits in 7 2/3 innings to earn the victory. Goat Once again, the Atlanta offense failed to generate any hits. The Braves managed just five hits in Game 4, scored just nine runs in four games and hit .200 for the Series. Against New York's three right-handed starters (Clemens, David Cone and Orlando Hernandez), the Braves had six hits in 21 2/3 innings. Managerial move of the night Once again, an intentional walk didn't pay off. With runners at second and third in the third inning and one out, Bobby Cox put Bernie Williams on first base. Tino Martinez then hit a two-run single off the glove of first baseman Ryan Klesko to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Key number Pick your poison. Zero -- number of runs Mariano Rivera has allowed over his past 43 innings. One -- World Series rings for Roger Clemens. Two -- consecutive World Series sweeps for the Yankees. 22-3 -- New York's record over the past two postseasons. 25 -- number of championships this century for the Yankees, one more than the 24 Stanley Cups for the Montreal Canadiens. Last word "The best team won." -- John Smoltz

Brought to the Bronx this spring from Toronto in a trade for David Wells that many Yankees fans disliked, Clemens walked off the mound with a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning to rousing cheers, tipping his cap and holding both hands high to acknowledge the ovation.

The Braves scored a run to make it 3-1, but Rivera stopped another rally and Jim Leyritz added a home run to make it 4-1. Rivera, who had two saves and a win in the Series, closed it out to earn the MVP award.

"I wasn't thinking about it," he said. "It just happens."

The Yankees finished off a week in which they simply overwhelmed the club that had the best record in the majors. Along the way they also: