No doubt, then, Girardi knows Andy Pettitte is 4-6 with a 4.15 earned run average when pitching on three days' rest, according to baseball-reference.com. The Yankees' manager also knows Pettitte hasn't pitched on three days' rest since 2006, and that Pettitte is 37 years old.

Yet, Girardi obviously decided to ignore those numbers because yesterday he announced that Pettitte would start tonight's World Series Game 6 at Yankee Stadium against Pedro Martinez on three days' rest.

Not that he had much choice. Chad Gaudin is not much of an option. He's thrown one inning since Oct. 3. Joba Chamberlain is working out of the bullpen. So it's by design Girardi has no fourth starter for the World Series. If the Phillies, trailing three games to two, come back to win this fascinating Series, the wolves will be howling at Girardi's door. He brought back A.J. Burnett on short rest for Monday's Game 5, and the Phillies raked him for six runs in two innings.

Burnett, who dominated the Phillies in Game 2, said yesterday he felt fine physically, and attributed his struggle to his inability to locate his fastball and a curveball that didn't have its usual bite.

"There was no difference in the way I felt," he said. "I felt the same."

But what else could he say?

Yankees ace CC Sabathia pitched Game 4 on three days' rest, but he is younger, 29, and physically stronger than Pettitte.

"For CC it's a little bit easier because he's throwing so much harder and his stuff is so much better," Pettitte said yesterday. "But physically for me, it obviously is a little, just seeing how my body is going to feel on that short rest because I'm just not sure at my age or whatever."

There are statistics that favor Pettitte. He has more postseason wins (17) and more starts (39) than any pitcher in major-league history. Pettitte is also Mr. Clincher. He won the AL East clincher in September; the AL division series clincher in Minnesota; and the ALCS clincher against the Angels at Yankee Stadium.

For the most part, Pettitte said he didn't believe pitching on three days' rest was dramatically different, and that he's not feeling wear and tear from the season because he wasn't overworked.

"I think people make a big deal about it because it's just not done very often any more," he said. "If I can get my command and your mechanics are comfortable, you make the adjustments during the course of the game, and I feel like I should be successful."

Besides, Pettitte said, he didn't feel so great during his Game 3 win over the Phils, and he had six days' rest. Pettitte allowed four runs over six innings, and the Phillies had him in serious trouble in the second inning, but he limited the damage and settled down. It was one of the more difficult among his 17 postseason wins.

"I don't know how I'll feel," he said. "I know I felt terrible [in Game 3] and I was on six days' rest. I just, you know, am going to go as hard as I can for as long as I can."

Asked what didn't feel right for him, Pettitte added, "Mechanically I felt a little bit off, just a click off, my release point didn't feel great. It was just a battle to get the ball in and out and move it around like I wanted to. I wasn't hitting my off-speed stuff for strikes like I like to do.

"My body and everything felt great physically," he added. "I had an extra day's rest. As good as I felt the prior three or four games I pitched in the postseason, and my command was so good in those games. I just felt in my last game, I was really, really off."

If Pettitte and the Yankees end the World Series tonight, it will be the first time since 1991 a Series champ has not gone with four starters.

Contact staff writer Ray Parrillo at 215-854-2743 or rparrillo@phillynews.com.