PHILADELPHIA — The Yankees are nine innings away from returning to a place Derek Jeter and others firmly believe a season is a failure if they don’t.
Tonight at Citizens Bank Park, a gem of a baseball stadium, the Yankees will attempt to win their 27th World Series title and first since 2000 against the defending champion Phillies.
Thanks to a gutsy effort by CC Sabathia on short rest and enough production from a lineup that produced two runs in the first and fifth innings and three in the ninth, the Yankees won Game 4, 7-4, last night in front of 46,145.
The victory gave the Yankees a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Series. A.J. Burnett, the second Yankees hurler in two games to work on three days’ rest instead of four, opposes Phillies ace Cliff Lee in Game 5 tonight. If a Game 6 is required it will be played Wednesday evening at Yankee Stadium.
Johnny Damon (3-for-5) singled with two outs in the ninth off Brad Lidge and then made third thanks to his legs and smarts. With third baseman Pedro Feliz on the right side of the infield because the Phillies were shifting on Mark Teixeira, Damon swiped second. Knowing that Feliz took the throw at second and third base was unoccupied, Damon raced for the bag and made it.
Lidge then hit Teixeira with a pitch and gave up an RBI double to Alex Rodriguez that put the Yankees on top 5-4. Jorge Posada followed with a two-run single to left-center that provided Mariano Rivera with a three-run bulge to work the ninth. Rivera recorded his 39th postseason save by getting the final three outs.
Prior to the game, Joe Girardi said he wouldn’t use Rivera for two innings and he stuck to the plan when Joba Chamberlain started the eighth with a 4-3 lead.
Chamberlain fanned Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez on 97-mph fastballs, and then got ahead of Feliz 1-2 with a pair of 96-mph fastballs. Two 87-mph sliders got the count full and Feliz smoked a 95-mph heater into the left-field seats to tie the score, 4-4.
Sabathia was far from sharp but effective when he needed to be — the Phillies were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. In 62/3 innings Sabathia gave up three runs and seven hits. The last one was a two-out, solo homer to Chase Utley in the seventh that cut the lead to 4-3 and forced Sabathia out of the game.
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Lefty Damaso Marte surfaced to face Ryan Howard and quickly put the slugger in a 0-2 hole. At 1-2 Marte won the contest when Howard flied to short left.
Joe Blanton, whom Phillies manager Charlie Manuel opted to start instead of Lee on three days’ rest, allowed four runs and five hits in six innings.
With a 4-2 advantage to start the seventh and Sabathia having thrown 94 pitches, Girardi allowed Sabathia to lead off the inning and he flied to right.
george.king@nypost.com