Sabathia, Rodriguez push Yankees closer

Even on just three days’ rest, Sabathia pitched like an ace last night in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series as the Yankees rolled to a 10-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels that put them on the brink of their first World Series appearance in six years.

“I never had any doubt about me being able to perform on this stage and to pitch well late in October,’’ said Sabathia, who gave up just one run on five hits in eight innings for his third postseason victory of the year. “But it seems like people did.’’

Sabathia, who was rocked in three postseason appearances with the Indians and Brewers, has a 1.19 ERA in ’09 with 20 strikeouts in 22.2 innings. He quieted a crowd of 45,160 disappointed fans at Angel Stadium as the Yankees took a commanding three games to one lead. Game 5 is tomorrow at Angel Stadium.

“He was spectacular again,’’ Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “To be able to shut this club down like he did, again, is no easy feat. This is a very dangerous lineup. We had some chances early, and CC kept getting outs for us.’’

Sabathia isn’t the only one enjoying a new view of the postseason. Alex Rodriguez, another embattled star who has struggled in the postseason, led the offense again, belting a two-run homer in the fifth inning - his fifth homer in this postseason - and had a single leading off the fourth inning when the Yankees took control with three runs.

Not that the Yankees took it for granted, even as they rolled over the Angels.

“It was a breather for, what, an inning and a half?’’ Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said, when asked if this game was a little less pressure packed. “It’s 5-1, going into the eighth inning. Get a couple guys on, the monkey comes out, and you never know what’s going to happen. So, no, it wasn’t a breather. Playoffs - anything can happen.’’

Sabathia, though, looked almost as good last night as he did in Game 1, another impressive eight-inning, one-run outing. He threw only 38 pitches by the end of the fourth inning, and he was still hitting 94 and 95 miles per hour in the eighth.

“He was ahead of most of the guys,’’ catcher Jorge Posada said. “That’s what we want, attack with all your pitches, and he did that.’’

It appeared early that Sabathia would need to be sharp because of the Yankees’ offensive woes. New York was 0 for 26 with runners in scoring position before Melky Cabrera singled with the bases loaded in the fourth.

That fourth also featured more questionable umpiring when the Yankees’ Nick Swisher appeared to be picked off second base but was called safe. That was followed by a suspect call in which third base umpire Tim McClelland ruled that Swisher left early from third on a sacrifice fly and was called out.

Clearly, this has not been a postseason filled with great calls.

But it has been distinguished by great performances from a pair of Yankees, and not necessarily the Yankees that might have been picked to do so before the season. Even on three days’ rest.

“You look at his command, and you look at his velocity,’’ Girardi said of Sabathia. “I thought both of them were very good. He even had a little bit of extra when he needed it. You would see him go from 94 to 95 sometimes . . . When there is fatigue, one of the ways it manifests itself is how sharp a guy is, how many strikes he’s thrown.’’

By that measure, Sabathia was barely fatigued at all. But last night was not the end. With the Yankees soundly ahead in the series, there is still the matter of winning one final game. And that is something that Sabathia is intimately familiar with, as his Indians fell to the Red Sox in 2007 after being up by the same margin in the ALCS.

“That experience two years ago was tough to swallow,’’ Sabathia said. “Being up, 3-1, and not being able to close it out. You just want to keep going and keep playing well. We’ve been playing good all playoffs. We’ve been having good pitching, playing good defense. We just need to close it out, you know. It’s that time.’’