NEW YORK (AP) - Yankee Stadium, where pennants and World Series are taken for granted, was silent yesterday.

So, too, was the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, where the World Series ended so deliriously and memorably last fall on Luis Gonzalez's run-scoring, bloop single in the ninth inning of the seventh game against the Yankees.

This season is over for the Yankees and Diamondbacks, both of them taking bruising first-round losses in playoffs that weren't close.

The Yankees, seeking a fifth straight American League pennant, fell first, their pitching helpless and their defense shaky against a team with less than half their payroll.

The Anaheim Angels won a playoff series for the first time in their 42-year history, knocking off the Yankees three games to one.

There were no fans at Yankee Stadium to greet the team when the three buses filled with players pulled up outside at 3 a.m. yesterday.

Manager Joe Torre, looking glum, was the first off the buses following the flight home from California. Players, many still looking dazed, exchanged goodbyes in the parking lot, most choosing not to go into the clubhouse.

"We expected to go to the World Series," Andy Pettitte said.

Game 5 would have been played at Yankee Stadium yesterday night, if necessary. It wasn't necessary. The Yankees clubhouse, with equipment still out yesterday afternoon as if the next game were just hours away, was quiet, with only David Wells and a few others showing up.

There was a banner at the Angels' Edison Field that read: "Angels - Team of Destiny." There was another that read: "Half of the payroll, twice the heart."

In truth, this best-of-five series seemed less about destiny or heart and more about a flat-out beating by an Angels team that, for one week, looked sharper in every aspect of the game.

"They brought out the whupping stick," said Wells, who was pounded in Anaheim's 9-5 rout Saturday. "There was not much we could do."

Derek Jeter stood beside Torre on the top step of the dugout when the game ended, they and other Yankees fixing in their memory the scene of the Angels celebrating on the field.

"They hit better, pitched better, played better defense," Jeter said. "There's really nothing to analyze. The just did everything better."

None of the Yankees' starting pitchers was able to get past the sixth inning.

Their batters were outhit .376 to .281. In the field, the Yankees' made four errors and misplayed three other balls while the Angels had only two errors.

These Yankees had undergone a lot of change after last year's World Series. Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius retired. Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch moved to other teams. The starting pitching began showing its age, with Roger Clemens at 40 and Wells at 39.

Yankees boss George Steinbrenner watched this loss with disappointment and hinted that there will be more than minor tweaking of the lineup before next season comes around.

"I think George will figure something out. He always does," Wells said yesterday before joining Kirk Gibson on a hunting trip. "He doesn't like to lay back in the weeds."

The Diamondbacks, who borrowed their pinstripes from the Yankees and have tried to build a dynasty like them, were less shocked than worn out as the season wound down.

"Last year, it was like we were on a mission and all of the things we did happened for a reason and things fell into place for us," owner Jerry Colangelo said. "That wasn't the case this year. It was a struggle to accomplish what we did. It was like pulling teeth."

The Diamondbacks had the two best pitchers in the National League, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, but even they couldn't stop a sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The hero a year ago, Gonzalez, was a spectator this time after separating his shoulder the last week of the regular season. Missing, too, with injuries were Craig Counsell, one of the NL's best clutch hitters, and Danny Bautista, another World Series hero last year. Counsell injured his neck in early August and underwent disk surgery. Left-handed pitcher Brian Anderson also was out with a broken right foot.

"We had a great team all year. We just got decimated by injuries," Steve Finley said.

"One of our strengths last year and throughout the regular season this year was our depth and our ability to go to the bench," manager Bob Brenly said. "This year, because of injuries to some extremely key people, we just did not have that same kind of depth."

Instead, Brenly said, it was the Cardinals who showed the bench depth and versatility that the Diamondbacks had last year.

"I'll watch the rest of the postseason," Brenly said. "I can't say I'll enjoy it. I'd rather watch it from the dugout. It was a great view last year.