I'm not sure that Joe Girardi had a better option than cycling all of his starters through on 3 days rest. Joba Chamberlain was one of the 4 regular starters during the regular season but he was moved to the bullpen for the postseason when he struggled with high pitch counts late in the season. Chad Gaudin? He made 6 starts for them. I don't know that I could send him to the mound to start a WS Game. You can't "throw" a game away and that might have happened if he started Game 5. They would have had Burnett and Pettite on normal rest for 6 (7 if necessary) with Sabathia available (why I understood the move to start him in Game 4). The extra risk that I see is when pitchers go on short rest they also tend to make shorter starts. That's not a good sign for the Yankees who only trust 1 reliever right now, Mariano Rivera (though they trust 1 more reliever than the Phillies do).
Thinking about Rivera, in Game 2, the Phillies didn't send their runners on a 3-2 pitch in the 8th inning. Chase Utley grounded into a DP and the rally was done. The Phillies played for power but that usually doesn't work against Rivera. The Red Sox have had the most success against him; rarely do they beat him with HRs. They foul off lots of pitches, draw walks, run aggressively, and score on bloop hits. That is all Rivera gives up.
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