PHILADELPHIA — It was a ninth inning going nowhere. Then Johnny Damon pulled off one of

the most daring baserunning maneuvers in World Series history and Alex Rodriguez got the

biggest hit of his life.

And now the New York Yankees are one win away from their 27th championship.

A-Rod's two-out RBI double off Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge — which came on the

heels of Damon's unbelieveable steal of two bases on the same play — snapped a tie and

the Yankees went on to stun the Phillies, 7-4, Sunday night.

A crowd of 46,145 in chilly Citizens Bank Park saw the Yankees take a 3-1 lead in the

best-of-seven series. They can wrap up their 27th championship and first since 2000 in Game

Five tonight (7:30 p.m., Ch. 29, Radio 1230 AM).

Game Two winner A.J. Burnett is pitching on three days rest against Phillies ace Cliff Lee,

pitching on his regular turn. Lee pitched a brilliant six-hitter with 10 strikeouts in the

Phillies' 6-1 victory in Game One back at Yankee Stadium.

With Damon at third and Mark Teixeira at first, A-Rod crushed Brad Lidge's 0-1 pitch down

the left-field line to snap a 4-4 tie and send his teammates pouring in front of the

third-base dugout in celebration.

"There's no question, I've never had a bigger hit," Rodriguez said.

Lidge got the first two men he faced in the ninth before Damon ignored the howling,

towel-waving crowd to drop a single to left-center. The hit came on the ninth pitch of his

at-bat, which began with Damon falling into an 0-2 hole before working the count full.

With Teixeira batting and the Phillies pulled into an extreme shift to right field, Damon

took off and stole second. Third baseman Pedro Feliz was covering the bag and caught the throw

cleanly but that left no one at third. Damon alertly saw no one there and took off, easily

making it to the bag as neither Lidge nor catcher Carlos Ruiz covered.

"That's instinct," said manager Joe Girardi. "You'd better be sure because you've got Tex

and A-Rod behind. I thought it was a great instinctual play by Johnny Damon."

"I'm just glad when I started running I still had some of my young legs behind me," Damon

said. "I know I have some decent speed in the tank but I was just hoping because I knew

Pedro's speed also. If it was [Los Angeles speedster] Chone Figgins, that might have been

tough. I just went off instinct and fortunately it worked out."

Lidge then hit Teixeira with a pitch to bring up A-Rod, whose hit gave him 15 RBIs in the

postseason to tie the franchise mark set by Bernie Williams (1996) and Scott Brosius (1998).

"He's about as relaxed as I could imagine anybody ever being," Burnett said. "It doesn't

matter what the situation is when he comes up. He's confident, loose, seeing the ball and

having a blast. When you're doing that, it's kind of hard to beat him."

It was a measure of retribution for A-Rod, who was plunked by Phillies starter Joe Blanton

in the back in the first inning. That was the third time in two nights A-Rod got hit and both

benches were warned about further inside pitches.

Jorge Posada followed A-Rod's double with a clinching two-run single to left-center. The

disheartened Phillies were done at that point as Mariano Rivera easily retired them 1-2-3 in

the ninth.

The place was rocking after Feliz's two-out homer in the eighth off Joba Chamberlain had

pulled the Phillies even at 4-4 and Lidge got the first two outs in the ninth.

Damon's elongated at-bat turned the tide back in the Yankees' favor.

"The whole key to that whole inning was an unbelieveable, tenacious at-bat by Johnny

Damon," Rodriguez said. "This guy is just a great competitor."

The Yankees were one strike away from turning over a 4-3 lead to Rivera in the ninth but

Feliz turned around a full-count, 95-mph fastball and pummeled it into the left-field seats to

dramatically tie the game.

It was the Phils' second two-out, two-strike home run in consecutive innings. Second

baseman Chase Utley pulled a similar trick off starter CC Sabathia in the seventh, pounding a

no-doubter to deep right to make it 4-3.

Sabathia, pitching on three days rest, went 6⅔ strong innings, allowing three runs

on seven hits. The Yankees snapped a 2-2 tie with two runs in the fifth but Sabathia gave that

one back on Utley's homer that knocked him from the game.

Utley added an RBI double in the first off Sabathia. He homered twice off the Yankees ace

in Game One but is 0 for 9 against all other Yankee pitchers.

It was hard to argue with Sabathia's outing. He gutted out 107 pitches (67 strikes) and you

have to believe he'd be able to put out a similar number in a potential Game Seven on Thursday

in New York.

The Yankees took advantage of the A-Rod situation in the first as Posada's sacrifice fly to

left put them in a quick 2-0 lead. Teixeira's groundout early in the inning scored the first

run.

Utley's double got that back and the Phils tied it in the fourth on Feliz's RBI single.