For that reason, his teammates and his fans feel bad for A.J. Burnett, a gritty competitor.

Nobody wanted to end the Series any more than Burnett in last night’s Game 5. He wanted to use his great curveball and keep the Phillies’ hitters off balance and then blow his fastball past them.

Instead Burnett, working on three days’ rest, will be remembered for a pretty lame performance on a night when Phillies fans could have been shut up for good, their hopes for back-to-back Series championships dashed.

“It’s the worst possible feeling,’’ Burnett said. “I had a chance to do something special for this team and the fans. You don’t get this chance very often and I just couldn’t find a way to make it happen.’’

The three days’ rest will be blamed in some corners, but Burnett embraced the decision before his outing. He had the numbers to back his excitement - 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA in three starts on three days’ rest, though this was the first time he had done it in 2009.

“I felt strong. That had nothing to do with anything that happened out there,’’ he said.

Manager Joe Girardi said there was “no correlation’’ between Burnett’s performance (6 runs and 4 hits in only 2-plus innings) and the amount of rest he received. “He just lacked command tonight, similar to what he did in Anaheim,’’ Girardi said. “But he was able to recover better there. Tonight he just wasn’t able to get it going.’’

The multi-tattooed righthander had beaten the Phillies in Game 2 with 7 strong innings in which he allowed just 1 run and 4 hits. He struck out nine and threw a first-pitch strike to the first 11 batters he faced.

He had been a pitcher who seemed to excel in September and October, with a 13-4 record and a 3.21 ERA since 2006, including this postseason. But all of the rosy stats, reinforcing why he was the right choice for Game 5, meant nothing last night.

Staked to a 1-0 lead, Burnett allowed a single to Jimmy Rollins, hit Shane Victorino with a pitch, and then gave up a three-run homer to Chase Utley, a wicked shot that made that sound that told you this was not going to be Burnett’s night. After he settled down in the second, walks to Utley and Ryan Howard cooked him in the third. Jayson Werth singled in one run and Raul Ibanez another. And that was it.

Burnett, who walked four and struck out two, said his pitches kept breaking over the plate rather than in the spots he was trying to get them to.

“To Utley, I threw him a fastball that broke over the plate,’’ he said. “It was a terrible pitch and one that you hate to make in that situation. I had the lead and I just gave it away. It was just a horrible feeling that I let my teammates down because they worked so hard to score runs against Cliff, who pitched a great game.’’

No immortality for Burnett, only regrets. He took it hard.

“I have to,’’ Burnett said. “Our offense put up runs in a very important game like that and I couldn’t find a way to throw strikes and I couldn’t find a way to make the right pitches when I had to. I’ve been able to turn things around and make adjustments and limit the damage sometimes but I just couldn’t do it this time. I feel awful. It’s embarrassing, really.’’

Burnett is an immensely talented pitcher who can be virtually unhittable at times but absolutely horrible on other occasions. Sometimes there’s no in-between. He has had outings where he’s been beaten up early and rallied late, as he pointed out, but this clearly was not going to be one of them.

It was unfortunate timing in a potentially clinching game in which his offense had given him a run in the top of the first against the very impressive Lee, who was pitching on four days’ rest. Burnett did what no pitcher ever wants to do, he gave it up, so the Yankees, ahead three games to two, must try to finish the Phillies off at Yankee Stadium tomorrow night.

Burnett had never pitched in the postseason before this season, and he’d embraced it nicely. He had three no-decisions but pitched well in the ALDS and ALCS, and then he worked brilliantly in Game 2 of the Series to get the win. When you’re as competitive as Burnett, you want to come out and pitch brilliantly, and if you can’t do that you at least want to make it a quality start or keep your team in the game. None of the above happened.

After he took the slow walk to the dugout after being pulled, Burnett sat there with a dazed look, in disbelief at how poorly things had turned out. All that could save him now was a Yankees comeback, but as hard as they tried to overcome the poor start they fell two runs short.

“With our team you always have a chance to come back and win the game,’’ Burnett said, “so I never gave up hope that might happen and that we’d be able to pull out a game I helped get out of hand. You always hope that when you pitch poorly your team finds a way to win, and these guys, to their credit, battled all the way once again. Like I said, I feel really bad. I had a chance to do something special for this group of guys and I let them down. I know we’ll go back to New York and we’ll get things going at home.’’

Burnett failed on three days’ rest where CC Sabathia excelled. Tomorrow night, New York’s Andy Pettitte, the winningest postseason pitcher ever, will give it his shot on three days in what could be the clincher for his fifth championship ring.

Burnett fully understands what he missed. And it hurts.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.