A Little Sweep Just What Yankees’ O’Neill Needs

Sweeping a series has its advantages. Just ask the New York Yankees, who barely broke a sweat in their three-game set with the Texas Rangers in the American League division series.

Besides bragging rights, the Yankees also have time to rest their weary, what with the AL championship series not starting until Wednesday in New York against either the Cleveland Indians or Boston Red Sox.

And that’s good news for Yankee right fielder Paul O’Neill, who has been bothered by a sore rib cage after crashing into a fence against Tampa Bay during the regular season’s final week.

Though O’Neill played in the first two games of the division series, Yankee Manager Joe Torre held him out of Game 3 to let him rest.

“He wanted to play tonight and I said, ‘If it was Game 5, you may be able to convince me of that,”’ Torre said before the Yankees ended the series with a 3-0 win Saturday at The Ballpark in Arlington.

Torre had regular left fielder Ricky Ledee play right and gave Chad Curtis a start in left.

O’Neill batted .285 with 19 home runs and 110 runs batted in during the regular season and was the Yankees’ second-leading run producer behind Bernie Williams, who had 115 RBIs.

Against the Rangers, O’Neill went two for eight in two games with a walk and two runs scored. He is expected to play Wednesday night.

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To say that the Yankees have the Rangers’ number in the postseason would be oversimplifying things.

The Yankees have won nine consecutive playoff games against the Rangers, dating to Game 2 of the 1996 division series; the Yankees limited the high-powered Rangers to a miserable .152 batting average in this series, which was slightly better than the .141 mark Texas hit against New York last year.

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New York has won 10 consecutive postseason games, dating to Game 4 of last year’s AL championship series against the Cleveland Indians. The streak is two off the consecutive-games mark established by the Yankees in 1927, ’28 and ‘32, when they won three World Series in four-game sweeps.

ALCS Schedule

New York Yankees vs. Cleveland or Boston.

* GAME 1: Wednesday, at New York, 5:15 p.m.

* GAME 2: Thursday, at New York, 5:15 p.m.

* GAME 3: Saturday, at Cleveland or Boston, 1:15 p.m.

* GAME 4: Oct. 17, at Cleveland or Boston, 4:45 p.m.

* GAME 5: Oct. 18, at Cleveland or Boston, 5:15 p.m.*

* GAME 6: Oct. 20, at New York, 1 p.m. or 5:15 p.m.*

* GAME 7: Oct. 21, at New York, 5:15 p.m.*

All games on Ch. 11. Times PDT. * if necessary.