The veteran pitcher has to be, now that it's his turn to pitch on three days' rest — a strategy now approaching make-or-break status for the New York Yankees.

A.J. Burnett, despite a history of performing well in similar situations, put the Yankees in a hole they couldn't quite overcome by allowing six Philadelphia Phillies runs among the 15 batters he faced. So much for his 4-0 record and 2.33 earned run average pitching on three days' rest.

Pettitte expects to work on short rest Wednesday with a chance to close out the World Series in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium. Manager Joe Girardi said he wouldn't make an official announcement until after the Yankees work out this afternoon but made his intentions clear:

"If he feels good, he's going."

There really isn't another viable option now that Girardi has gone so deep into the Series with his three-man rotation of CC Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte. Chad Gaudin has been mentioned as Plan B every time the Yankees have planned to use a pitcher on short rest in these playoffs — Sabathia once in the American League Championship Series and now consecutive World Series starts by the Big Three.

"Chad hasn't thrown much in the past month, and that's a difficult position to put him in," Girardi said, though Gaudin still has to be considered the emergency option — even on 37 days' rest.

That's how long it's been since Gaudin started — and he's only appeared in games twice since, a total of 2⅓ innings.

But it's been a lot longer since Pettitte, 37, has been used in this way.

Pettitte is a Yankees playoff hero, the all-time leader in postseason victories for any team, the pitcher who won the team's most recent Game 6, the ALCS clincher against the Los Angeles Angels.

If he can again keep the Yankees out of a Game 7, not only do they win the World Series but they avoid the shift of pressure to a team that had a 3-1 series lead. That's where the Yankees were in this series, as well as against the Angels and, of course, before the 2004 ALCS collapse after leading the Boston Red Sox 3-0. The Yankees haven't been to the World Series since, and the remaining 2004 demons would become more significant should the Phillies win Game 6.

If this series gets to Game 7, then Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who has been adamant in his refusal to pitch ace and Monday winner Cliff Lee on short rest, will have to consider Lee's status.

Girardi and Burnett both insisted the amount of rest had nothing to do with Burnett's performance Monday.

"The curve was rolling; the fastball was up," said Burnett, who put his team in a quick 3-1 hole by allowing a three-run homer to Chase Utley before he retired a batter. "It was a matter of throwing strikes."

Indeed. Burnett had his usual 94-95 mph fastball velocity from the start. He didn't get a chance to show if he would tired over the course of the game.

"I don't think there was any correlation," between Burnett's rest and results, Girardi said. "He just lacked command tonight."

But Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino had a different view.

"His curveball didn't have the same tilt it had the first game," Victorino said. "Sometimes you don't have your same stuff on three days' rest."

Pettitte's career history on three days' rest is a 4-6 record and 4.15 ERA in 14 regular-season starts. But in the playoffs he's 3-1 with a 2.80 ERA in five starts. The most telling factor might be the time it's been since he's been asked to do it.

His last start on short rest was in 2006, the most recent one in the postseason in the 2003 World Series, when he pitched 8 2/3 scoreless innings against the Florida Marlins.

Age and experience — they should be a factor Wednesday. We'll know how after a day's rest.

Enlarge By Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Yankees manager Joe Girardi takes starting pitcher A.J. Burnett out of the game in the third inning of Game 5.