PHILADELPHIA — CC Sabathia started on short rest for the New York Yankees Sunday and

A.J. Burnett is going to do it tonight in Game Five of the World Series.

Phillies ace Cliff Lee didn't do it against Sabathia, his old Cleveland teammate, and

hasn't done it in his career so he'll go tonight against Burnett. But Lee raised plenty of

eyebrows prior to Sunday's game when he said he would have had manager Charlie Manuel asked

him.

Instead, the Phils went with Joe Blanton and are left with the prospect of struggling 2008

ace Cole Hamels for Game Seven. Hamels gave up five runs in 4⅔ innings Saturday and has

a 7.54 ERA this postseason.

Lee has a 0.54 ERA in four 2009 postseason starts and pitched a six-hitter in Game One,

striking out 10 and not allowing an earned run or walk in the Phillies' 6-1 win. He said he

talked briefly to Manuel over the weekend about going Sunday.

"It was a pretty quick conversation, him asking me if I had ever done it and me telling him

no and saying that I think I could," Lee said. "Basically that was about the extent of it.

Pretty quick, brief deal. I just let him know I'd pitch whenever he wants me to pitch. I think

I could do it but he makes the calls."

Reporters' antennas went up at that answer. A couple more questions on the topic clearly

agitated Lee.

"I told him I would pitch whenever he wants me to pitch. I think I can do it," Lee said.

"I'm not disappointed or mad or frustrated or anything. My job is to pitch when Charlie wants

me to pitch, and that's what I'm going to do, and I'm going to make the best of those

situations. I'm not going to try to second guess or anything like that. I would have been

happy either way."

Manuel said Sunday he was not going to "experiment" with Lee or any other player during the

World Series.

"You probably say, "Well, CC Sabathia can do it.' Well, CC Sabathia has been doing it,"

Manuel said. "Why did he do it? Somebody got him [Milwaukee last year], and they wanted to

make sure that they had the best chance of winning, so they put him on three days' rest and

pitched him, and he did it before."

It's generally accepted that the Brewers wore out Sabathia just to get in the playoffs;

Manuel said the big left-hander's velocity was down and he was throwing mostly sliders and

change-ups when the Phillies beat him in the division series. He didn't want to see Lee endure

a similar struggle.

"You're asking Cliff Lee to do something that he has never did before," Manuel said. "But

we're also asking him to do it in a very big, important place, and that's in the World

Series."

Andy Pettitte is expected to go Wednesday in Game Six for the Yankees — also on short

rest — with Sabathia tabbed for Game Seven on Thursday. The Yankees could be the first

team since the 1991 Minnesota Twins to go through a seven-game set with just three starters

(Jack Morris, Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson).xleg

. . .

Burnett is 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA in four career starts on short rest. Both he and Lee are

Arkansas natives and have the same agent, Little Rock-based Darek Braunecker. He

negotiated Burnett's $82.5 million deal last winter and figures to get Lee a bucketful of

money after the 2010 season.

"I didn't really know him growing up," Lee said of Burnett. "He was a little ahead of me

but I knew who he was obviously. There's not a lot of guys from Arkansas getting drafted, much

less making it to the big leagues. For us, we've met each other over the years and became

friends and stuff.

"It's not very often two guys from the state of Arkansas make it to the big leagues, much

less square off against each other in the World Series. That's going to be a neat deal for our

state and going to be a lot of fun, and something we can talk about for the rest of our

lives."

. . .

The Phillies have growing concern about Hamels, who took the loss Saturday and told

Philadelphia reporters after the game he just wanted the season to be over. One problem: His

potential Game Seven start.

"I was surprised when I heard that," Manuel said of Hamels' comments. But I don't really

understand exactly how he meant that. But at the same time, when I think about it, I look back

... he's had kind of a freak kind of a weird season. ... He's inconsistent, and he's kind of

had an off year for him. Basically his struggles is kind of the first time he's going through

that.

What will Manuel do in Game Seven? He wouldn't commit to Hamels either way.

"Right now I'm focused on today," Manuel said. "We're a long ways from there. I've got a

lot of time to think about things."

. . .

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley had his postseason-record streak of 27 straight games

reaching base end Saturday night in Game Three when he went 0 for 4. The previous record was

25, set by Baltimore's Boog Powell from 1966-71.