It's been more than a month since the Yankees experienced that unique, nightly adrenaline-rush that comes gift-wrapped in every pennant race. The A's and Angels know the feeling. So did the Dodgers and Giants, who turned September into one long playoff, when every game was an inning-to-inning wars, with at-bats that mean everything, and every fastball delivered with end-of-the-world caution.

The Yankees? They were finished with the Red Sox by Labor Day and spent the rest of September playing sub.-500 teams and sweating small issues -- like how not to hurt Orlando Hernandez's feelings when he was finally eased out of the post-season rotation.

	Roger Clemens hopes to pump up the Yankees with his Game 1 start.

It was as comfortable a warmup as Joe Torre could've wanted -- finishing out the month with a 19-8 record, and holding off Oakland's surge for the home-field advantage in the playoffs. And by sweeping the Orioles at Camden Yards the final weekend, the Yankees saved themselves the bother of playing a Monday afternoon makeup game with the Devil Rays.

Now, as Torre told reporters after Sunday's 6-1 win, "We can go home, work out, get all the paperwork out of the way and concentrate on playing Tuesday. We didn't want to play (Monday)."

Instead, the Yankees can take a deep breath and shift their focus to the wild-card Angels, who allowed fewer runs than the Yankees. Actually, Torre has spent most of September preparing for this exact crossroads, when the Yankees would finally be faced with a legitimate opponent.

Did the Bombers lose their edge in a soft September schedule? Or are they properly rested for one more October sprint? Here are five issues for the Yankees:

1. Why did Torre choose Roger Clemens to start Game 1?
Obviously, it wasn't because of the Rocket's 13-6 record. Had the decision been made purely on numbers, David Wells, a 19-game winner, or Mike Mussina, who had a 1.22 ERA in his final seven starts, would've deserved the ball.

Torre believes Clemens has the greatest ability to dominate an opposing team -- if he has his best stuff. The Rocket has proven his big-game worth to the Yankees, having outperformed Curt Schilling in Game 7 of last year's World Series. And there have been moments in 2002 when Clemens seemed ageless, like on September 3, when he struck out 10 in 7.1 innings against the Red Sox.

But Clemens has also bled this summer, and there are days when Torre shrugs and says, "You have to remember he's 40." But the Yankees are counting on Clemens to raise his adrenaline level against the Angels, just as he did against Boston. No one in the Yankee family is disputing Torre's decision.

2. Can the Yankees capitalize on the Angels' lack of experience?
The Yankees have a deeper roster, and rich tradition of handling October pressure. But no one believes the Angels will simply evaporate. In fact, Anaheim's hitters showed remarkable poise all season, with the fewest strikeouts in the majors and a .290 average with runners in scoring position. And their fielders were smooth, too, committing the second-fewest errors in the big leagues, and 45 fewer than the Yankees.

If the Yankees advance to the AL Championship Series, it'll likely be because they've won the talent-versus-talent matchup, not because the Angels were intimidated.

3. Can the Yankees count on all those home runs in the postseason?
They won't, if Torre has his way. All summer, he's preached about the importance of long, patient at-bats -- although there was no stopping Jason Giambi from doing what he does best (swing for the planets) and harnessing Alfonso Soriano's ever-expanding talent.

True, the Yankees hit 223 HRs, the second-most in franchise history and more than any club in this year's postseason. And watching Soriano's pursuit of 40 HRs made for great theater.

But Torre was far more interested in seeing how Derek Jeter finished September than Soriano, just because the Yankees needed the shortstop to hit line drives again. And the verdict was impressive, as Jeter batted .324 (11-for-34) in his last 10 games, and re-acquainted himself with that precious inside-out swing that's made Jeter pure poison to American League pitchers over the years.

4. Is Mariano Rivera healthy?
He seems to be. The closer appeared in four games last week, and aside from a home run by Baltimore's Geronimo Gil on Saturday, gave the Yankees every reason to believe his shoulder problems are history. His fastball was consistently clocked at 93 mph with that devastating last-second break away from right-handed hitters. It remains to be seen, however, how delicately Torre will treat Rivera in the playoffs -- whether the manager will avoid using him unless absolutely necessary, and whether Rivera will be asked to get more than three outs. Stay tuned.

5. Is there any scenario in which the Yankees could lose to the Angels?
That goes back to the original question -- whether the Yankees ran away from the Red Sox too early in September and got bored playing a month of exhibition games. If you believe that, then it's possible October's intensity could catch the Yankees off-guard.

It's not likely, however. In fact, it's just as realistic to think the Yankees are hungering for the postseason, simply because September was so empty.

That's exactly why Clemens is starting Game 1; if there's anyone in pinstripes who'll lead the Yankees' transition from September to October, it's the Rocket. End-of-the-world fastballs are in his DNA coding.

Bob Klapisch of The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) covers baseball for ESPN.com.