BOSTON – Joe Torre thanked his players as they departed the field at Fenway Park yesterday afternoon and made the rounds in the clubhouse, as well. He even took the time to express gratitude to Bobby Abreu in, of all places, the bathroom.

This was the revelry after The Rivalry. And you could understand why Torre was flush with delight and what he kept describing as his “emotion.” Recognizing he had so many new players who had never performed in the late-season, road heat of Yankees-Red Sox, Torre had used a pre-series meeting to brace his squad by referring to Fenway as “a snakepit” due to the in-close hostility that can be felt from the stands.

But, by the end, the Red Sox Nation’s lone enthusiasm was to boo each time expatriate Johnny Damon caught a flyball. Fenway was a pit no more. It was Snakes on a Wane.

And that is why Torre was so emotional, because it was his entire roster that tamed this beast. If Torre could have given a 25-man hug, he would have done so after a 2-1 triumph gave the Yankees a five-game sweep of the Red Sox, a stranglehold on the AL East and a sequel to the Boston Massacre.

Because this was one of those times in which a manager could have looked at pretty much any locker and found a player who was a factor in this series.

“Everybody on this club did something in a positive way that helped this team win a game,” Mike Myers said.

This was a series the Yanks dominated because of both their green and their (Nick) Green, thanks to their rich and their rookies, their stars and their supplements. Both the Yanks and Red Sox headed to the West Coast soon after the game, but with their heads in distinctly different positions. The Yanks were up, with their 61/2-game lead and a can-do sense of winning all types of games, in all kinds of ways with a host of different contributors. The Red Sox were down, almost certainly doomed to yet another second-place finish to the Yankees because they cannot overcome so many problems in so many areas.

“I’d like to think our 5 1/2-hour flight is going to be a lot more enjoyable than their 5 1/2-hour flight,” Myers said.

On Sunday, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein had tried to alibi away why his team was being throttled in this series by playing the poor card in comparison to the Yankees, as if Boston is the Royals, not an organization that fills its park each game and has myriad revenue streams. The Red Sox could have added Abreu and Cory Lidle at the trade deadline, but were unwilling to pay full price. The Yankees were. So Lidle delivered six shutout innings yesterday, holding Boston hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position, and Abreu knocked in the first run in the only low-scoring game in this series.

And the Yankees stars certainly did come out in these five games. Derek Jeter had two huge hits. Alex Rodriguez quietly drove in five runs and finally played well defensively yesterday. Jason Giambi won a game with his might Sunday and Mariano Rivera was brilliant, of course.

But the Yanks also swept because Myers held David Ortiz hitless in four at-bats, whiffing him with a man on yesterday in the seventh. Scott Proctor pitched multiple innings in four games. Green was superb on defense Sunday night and doubled and scored the decisive run yesterday.

Robinson Cano continued to lay claim as one of the sport’s best young hitters. And Melky Cabrera had another wonderful series, culminating it by positioning the Yanks’ two runs yesterday with a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt.

“I’ll even throw Melky Cabrera in there [the MVP debate],” Damon was moved to say. “He’s been incredible.”

Up and down the roster, the Yanks ignored tired bodies, interminable games, an unfriendly schedule, an untimely rain delay and inhospitable surroundings to find the will, skill, myriad of players and myriad of ways to sweep five games at Fenway for the first time in 63 years.

“It’s a manager’s dream,” Torre said.

It was enough to make the manager want to hug his whole roster.

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Party of 5

The Yankees completed the third five-game sweep of the Red Sox in their history with yesterday’s 2-1 win at Fenway Park. Here’s a look at the five-game sweeps between the two AL East rivals.

* This was the first five-game series between the Yankees and the Red Sox since July 2-5, 1973 at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox won four out of five of those games.

* This was the first five-game series at Fenway Park since July 9-13, 1959.

* July 9-13, 1939: Red Sox sweep the Yankees in New York

* Sept. 9-12, 1943: Yankees sweep the Red Sox in Boston

* Sept. 28-30, 1951: Yankees sweep the Red Sox in New York

* July 9-13, 1959: Red Sox sweep the Yankees in Boston

* Aug. 18-21, 2006: Yankees sweep Red Sox in Boston

-Compiled by Christina Amoroso