“This is what everybody drew up back in spring training, so now we’ll get to see what it’s all about.” -GARY SHEFFIELD

It must be the shoes.

How else do you explain the latest Yankees comeback win that propels them into the greatest rivalry sports knows? Down 5-1 in the eighth, Gary Sheffield starts a rally with a broken bat single and Ruben Sierra caps it with a three-run homer to erase the Twins’ lead and their confidence.

“He was actually wearing my shoes today, so I told him, ‘Pick me up, let us take a day off,’ ” Sheffield said of Sierra. ” ‘I don’t feel like playing tomorrow.’ ”

The Yankees didn’t play yesterday. Nor did they practice. There is one day of rest before the Yankees and Red Sox resume their high-octane baseball drag race in the ALCS.

The Yankees eliminated the Twins in four games with Saturday night’s 6-5 win in 11 innings. Alex Rodriguez manufactured the winning run with a double and daring steal of third. The Sox swept the Angels.

Surely you didn’t expect to see any other two teams in the ALCS. The Yankees had this series penciled in back in February.

“This is what everybody drew up back in spring training, so now we’ll get to see what it’s all about,” said Sheffield. “When [Curt] Schilling went to Boston and A-Rod came here, this is what everybody wanted to see. Now, we’ll give it to them.”

The Yankees almost gave Game 4 to the Twins when the Metrodome turned into the Metrodud. The nightmare in baseball’s largest circus tent started in the fourth when Torii Hunter drew a leadoff walk and Justin Morneau launched a towering fly ball that disappeared in the white canvas background that hangs from the roof.

Sheffield took a few steps up and looked up like a little kid whose kite’s string had just snapped. Miguel Cairo, seeing Sheffield was in trouble, raced from second base to right.

“Ever since I’ve been playing here, I’ve never lost a ball up there,” said Sheffield. “I felt like a helpless child out there. As soon as he hit it, I lost it. I looked at Cairo, who ran back like it was going to be right over his head, so I ran in.”

Cairo fielded Morneau’s ball and fired it in to Derek Jeter, but the dome damage had been done. Hunter was at third and would score on Corey Koskie’s sac fly. Morneau was a second with a “dome-rule” double.

Corey Koskie’s sac fly to left scored Hunter. Sheffield was left to hear the taunts and cheers of the Metrodome fans that have grown accustomed to watching baseball in House That Excavators Built.

“The one thing you have to keep reminding yourself as a defensive player is to keep your eye on the ball,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said before the series began. “Because that’s the one thing when you’re playing indoors, if you lose sight of the ball you’re going to have a hard time picking it up because you lose your depth perception.”

Sierra spent the next four innings pacing the Yankees dugout and pleading with his teammates to pick him up. At one point he and Sierra locked eyes and Sheffield is certain he saw the DH wink.

No wonder it was Sierra whom Sheffield held for some 15 seconds in champagne-drenched embrace. Sheffield said he never thought he would be happy to see the Red Sox again. That all changed with Sierra’s blast.

“We knew we were going to have to go through Boston to get to the World Series,” Sheffield said. “We’re ready for the task.”