Back to the Bronx after Phillies win

PHILADELPHIA - The Phillies still have a long way to go to repeat as world champions. But just getting the World Series back to New York with an 8-6 victory Monday was a significant accomplishment.

The Phillies won because fully rested Cliff Lee provided another stellar game. They won because Chase Utley hit two more homers, his fifth overall of this Series, matching Reggie Jackson's 1977 record. And they won because the Yankees' decision to start A.J. Burnett on short rest backfired horribly, with the potential of ongoing ramifications.

"We had to do it," Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "We didn't have a choice. It was either go home and watch football and college basketball or extend the season."

Game 6 will be Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, with the potential for tremendous theater given the expected pitching matchup of big-game veterans Pedro Martinez and Andy Pettitte.

The Yankees still lead the Series 3-2 and have history on their side -- with only three teams having failed to win after leading 3-1 with the final two games at home -- as well as home-field advantage, courtesy of the American League's All-Star victory.

But the Phillies could have something of an advantage, with the momentum, the pressure that will be on the Yankees and the benefit of having Martinez on five days' rest in contrast to the 37-year-old Pettitte on three for the first time since 2006.

Utley hit a three-run, tone-setting homer in the first off Burnett and a leadoff shot in the seventh against Phil Coke. Utley, who went deep twice in Game 1 and once in Game 4, also became the second player to have two multihomer Series games, joining Kansas City's Willie Aikens, who did so against Philadelphia in 1980.

"At some point, not right now, maybe I'll look back on it and see what kind of special moment it is," Utley said. "But right now our goal is to win two more games."

Another record from that 1980 Series was tied Monday, as Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard struck out two more times to match Willie Wilson's record of 12.

The Phillies showed the resilience they talked so much about, charged up by the Citizens Bank Park crowd announced at 46,178 and charging to a 6-1 lead. Lee, the remarkable trade deadline acquisition from Cleveland, kept them comfortably ahead into the eighth, though he had the benefit of facing a less-imposing version of the Yankees who were without Melky Cabrera (injured), Jorge Posada (benched in favor of Jose Molina, Burnett's personal catcher) and Hideki Matsui (a reserve with no DH in the NL park).

Lee improved to 4-0 in the postseason, giving up five runs in seven-plus innings, and despite throwing 112 pitches he could be used in relief for a potential Game 7 on Thursday.

"I'm available," Lee said.

The experiment of using Burnett on three days' rest failed miserably. He failed to get through the third, giving up six runs on four hits and five walks and throwing nearly as many balls (25) as strikes (28).

"Well, if we would have pitched today, we probably would have won," Joe Girardi said afterward. "That's the bottom line. A.J. struggled today. He felt good. He just struggled today."

Though they had three chances to clinch the championship, the Yankees opted to start Burnett on short rest rather than use Chad Gaudin.

Burnett was 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA in four previous starts on three days' rest, and he made it sound as if it was more the team's idea than his to try it again.

"They told me I was," he said. "They asked me, and I'm like, 'All right, I'm in.' I knew it might be a possibility."

The Yankees scored three runs in the eighth off Lee, including a two-run double by Alex Rodriguez, who also drove in New York's first-inning run. A-Rod has 18 RBI in 14 games this postseason, a Yankees record.

Ryan Madson, not Brad Lidge, was brought on in the ninth inning, and he promptly gave up a double to Posada doubled and a single to Matsui.

But Madson then got Derek Jeter to hit into a run-scoring double play. Even though Johnny Damon followed with a single, Madson struck out the slumping Mark Teixeira with Rodriguez in the on-deck circle.

"We felt pretty good about it, especially with the captain coming up there," Damon said of the ninth. "Unfortunately, he didn't get it done tonight, but I'll take him in that spot anytime."