Yankees grab momentum

PHILADELPHIA — For three innings last night, the Yankees got into the Halloween spirit by coming to Game 3 of the World Series as the Kansas City Royals.

They appeared jittery and unnerved performing in a Citizens Bank Park that was an inferno of noise. Andy Pettitte, in his record-extending 39th career playoff start, was pitching defensively without his signature cutter. Alex Rodriguez looked unglued at third and Nick Swisher did a Bobby Abreu imitation by refusing to approach the wall on a potentially catchable ball that became a Pedro Feliz double.

Meanwhile, Cole Hamels navigated once around the Yankees lineup looking like the guy who won the World Series MVP last year.

At that moment, it would have been easier to conceive of Steve Phillips as Husband of the Year than that Pettitte would outlast and outpitch Hamels or that the seething beast in this game was the Yankees’ offense. But A-Rod and Swisher journeyed from defensive malfeasance to offensive stars, and the complexion of Game 3 changed 180 degrees, perhaps taking the 105th World Series with it.

The Yankees scored in five straight innings beginning in the fourth to win 8-5. They now lead two-games-to-one and while CC Sabathia is going tonight on three day’s rest, he is facing Joe Blanton, whose 8.18 ERA vs. the Yanks is fourth worst among active pitchers (minimum four starts).

Suddenly, the Phillies’ 3-4 hitters, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are liabilities, and from the looks of last night Joba Chamberlain and Damaso Marte may be late-game assets.

How quickly impressions change. Just look at how stunning the transformation was in this game.

And perhaps Game 3 pivoted on mechanical and emotional adjustments made by Pettitte and Swisher.

Pettitte was on the brink of being ousted in the second. Jayson Werth led off with the first of two mammoth homers in this game. Before the inning was over, Pettitte would walk Jimmy Rollins with the bases loaded and allow a Shane Victorino sac fly. It was 3-0, and a party was underway in Philly.

Pettitte was rushing his delivery, causing his arm to drag, which robbed the bite of his cutter. This made him jumpy temperamentally, as well, at a time when one more hit might have finished him off. But in these hostile environments, Pettitte was able to recalibrate, slowing his motion. “Veteran type guys can block stuff out and self-correct,” GM Brian Cashman said. “They can take a punch in the first round and stick around for a long time.”

Pettitte struck out Utley to end the third and did not allow another hit until Werth homered to open the sixth. Pettitte made it through six innings to secure perhaps the most gratifying of his record 17 postseason wins. Because he survived the hostility without his best stuff and he preserved the bullpen with the Yanks planning to go short with their starters the rest of the way.

“He was a bulldog for us,” Swisher said.

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And while Swisher did not match Werth, he suddenly had worth. He was benched for Game 2 due to a horrible playoff-long slump. At that time, Girardi spoke to Swisher about the need to stop pressing and try to enjoy what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And hitting coach Kevin Long convinced Swisher to spread out and use “a completely different stance” at the plate. The idea was to give Swisher more time to decipher the buffet of off-speed stuff he has seen in the postseason.

It worked. Swisher opened the fifth with a double and scored on a Pettitte single, which gave Pettitte as many hits and one more RBI than Howard has in this Series. Swisher homered in the following inning. Hamels, who did not give up a hit until A-Rod clocked a two-run, replay-aided homer in the fourth, never made it out of the fifth. Six of the final 10 batters he faced reached safely before J.A. Happ relieved, and Swisher homered off of Happ in the sixth.

“[Swisher] made a dramatic change, and it worked,” Long said.

And this whole game and series has made a dramatic change now. A-Rod went from 0-for-8 with six strikeouts to having a right-field camera turn into this year’s Jeffrey Maier, a ball smashing into it and becoming a homer after a replay challenge. Chamberlain and Marte went six-up, six-down and the Yanks just might have the bridge they were previously lacking to Mariano Rivera.

The first pitch in Game 3 had been delayed by rain for 1 hour, 20 minutes and then it took the Yanks an additional hour to stop being the Royals. When that happened Game 3 and possibly the whole Series shifted toward the Yankees.

Pavano more dependable than Pedro?

Here is a puzzler for you: If both cost roughly $7 million for one year, which of these two starters would you take for 2010, Pedro Martinez or Carl Pavano?

Both free agents performed well against the Yankees in the playoffs, which could enhance their attractiveness in a market starved for pitching. If both were at their best, Martinez is better. But — and this is bizarre to even write — Pavano is the sturdier of the two, the one more likely to give 30 starts next season. He made 33 this year.

It says a lot about the unlikely nature of Martinez handling a 30-plus start workload any longer to give a check mark to Pavano for durability.

Setting up nicely

Phil Hughes yielded a homer to Carlos Ruiz when, for some reason, he threw a fastball to a dead fastball hitter with one out in the ninth last night. So the troubles for Hughes persisted as he was knocked out after two batters, forcing in the overworked Mariano Rivera. But Rivera needed to get just two outs because Joba Chamberlain and Damaso Marte are emerging as trusted set-up components.

In his first seven outings, Joba was not allowed to get more than two outs. But he pitched a 1-2-3 seventh in Game 3. That was his first outing since retiring the only two batters he faced on groundouts in the Yankees’ clinching win in ALCS Game 6.

And Marte is firing fastballs at 95 mph to go along with a wicked slider. He has retired nine straight hitters this postseason, including all three in the eighth last night.

joel.sherman@nypost.com