PHILADELPHIA – CC Sabathia was pretty outstanding pitching on three days rest for the Yankees on Sunday night.

A.J. Burnett? Not so much.

Burnett, who handcuffed the Phillies in the second game of the World Series, struggled from the onset of Monday's start in Game 5 and was pulled in the third inning with nobody out.

The official line on Burnett: 2-plus innings, six runs (all earned), four hits with four walks.

The control Burnett had when he went seven innings and surrendered four hits with nine strikeouts on Thursday was no longer there.

''He just lacked command tonight similar to what he did in Anaheim,'' manager Joe Girardi said afterward, saying he didn't think the lack of an extra day mattered all that much. ''But he was able to recover better there. Tonight he wasn't able to get it going.''

Girardi was asked before Monday's game whether he had considered starting Chad Gaudin in place of Burnett since the Yankees held a 3-1 lead in the series. If Gaudin and the bullpen pitched well, season over. If not, the Yankees would have saved Burnett for Wednesday's Game 6 in the Bronx.

Instead, Girardi went with Burnett and had to go to the pen early on Monday. Veteran Andy Pettitte will probably start Wednesday - also on three days rest - after beating the Phillies in Game 3 on Saturday. Gaudin hadn't pitched since going one inning in a rout of the Angels on Oct. 20.

''We talked about it a little bit,'' Girardi said of skipping Burnett in favor of Gaudin pregame.

''Chad hasn't thrown much in the past month and that's a difficult spot to put him in. . . . A.J. feels good and we feel good about A.J. going out there. So we feel this is the right move and that's why we did it.''

It's easy to second-guess Girardi after seeing the end result of Burnett's start, but Girardi had numbers on his side. Going into the game, the former Marlins righty had gone on three days rest three times. Burnett had won each one of those starts, including one for the Marlins on July 4, 2004 against Tampa Bay.

Burnett was a big addition to the Yankees rotation this offseason, the team giving Burnett a five-year deal worth $82.5 million to leave Toronto. So, go with Burnett or Gaudin, a career 34-35 pitcher who hadn't started a game since Sept. 28 against the Royals? With the storied franchise's 27th World Series championship at stake? Burnett sounded ready for the start.

''Well, I'd lie if I said I wasn't going to go home and think about it all night,'' Burnett said before Game 4. ''This is what you talk about growing up. I'm going to do my best to take full advantage of that. I'm not going to take it as just one ordinary game or another start. It's the World Series, Game 5, and I'm the starter. That's what it's all about.''

Unlike Pettitte and Sabathia, Burnett has acquired all of his postseason action in the past few weeks.

Burnett didn't pitch for the Marlins in the 2003 playoffs because he missed all but four games that season with an elbow injury. The Marlins didn't make the playoffs in Burnett's final two seasons in South Florida, and after leaving for Toronto after the 2005 season, he didn't get into the postseason with the Blue Jays either.

Coming into Monday's game, Burnett had pitched 25 1/3 innings this postseason, giving up 10 earned runs. His win in Game 2 was the first postseason win of his career.

On Monday, things started bad from the start as Burnett gave up a single to Jimmy Rollins to start things off, then struck Shane Victorino in the right hand. Chase Utley followed by smashing his fourth homer of the World Series (to tie a National League record, one he would later break with a seventh-inning blast) and the Phillies were off and running.

In the third, things completely unraveled for Burnett as he walked Utley and Ryan Howard to start things off. With no outs, Jayson Werth singled to center to make it 4-1, then Raul Ibanez singled to right to score Howard. Girardi had seen enough and pulled Burnett with runners on, bringing in David Robertson who gave up the sixth run of the inning.

Meanwhile, Phillies ace Cliff Lee survived allowing up a run in the top of the first and was buoyed by the quick start. Lee gave up his second run in the fifth but the Yankees couldn't tag on any more that inning. The Yankees would do their damage later in the game.

''If we would have pitched today, we probably would have won,'' said Girardi, whose team battled back to come within two of the Phillies after the home team led by as many as six runs. ''That's the bottom line. A.J. struggled today. He felt good, he just struggled. That's something that happens in the game of baseball.''

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