YES Network.com

After an extra-inning Angels win on Monday night, it seemed as though Los Angeles, playing at home, had grabbed momentum in the ALCS. Earl Weaver, though, said it best: "Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher."

Tuesday night the Angels' one-game momentum ran headlong into CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez and the Yankee bats. Pitching on just three days' rest, the Yankee ace stifled the Angels' lineup, and the Yanks, led by another A-Rod home run, erupted for a 10-1 rout. Although a few umpiring calls were just wrong, the Bombers now have a 3-1 series lead and need to win just one of the remaining three games to secure their first World Series berth since 2003.

For Joe Girardi, the decision to start Sabathia was not without controversy. Many wondered if Sabathia, who had not thrown on short rest all year, would respond with a good game. He quickly put the doubts to rest with a strong start to the game. Through three innings, he had thrown just 29 pitches, and although the game was scoreless, CC was nearly untouchable.

"They came out swinging early in the count. It worked to our advantage," Sabathia said after the game. "I was just trying to come out and make pitches. They were being real aggressive."

As CC rolled, the Yankee bats came alive. In the fourth inning, they finally got to Angels' starter Scott Kazmir. Alex Rodriguez singled, and Jorge Posada doubled. After a Hideki Matsui strike out, a Robinson Cano fielder's choice drove home A-Rod. With the bases loaded, Melky Cabrera finally broke the Yanks' hitless streak with runners in scoring position with a two-run single. The Yanks were up 3-0, and they weren't done.

In the fourth, Alex Rodriguez blasted his third home run of the series for a 5-0 lead. He would finish the game 3-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBIs and a walk. After the game, Girardi was full of praise for his third baseman. "He's a great player. It's plain and simple. He's been a great player for a long time," he said. "I know Bernie Williams had some big series, but Alex is ... wow."

As the game wore on, Sabathia seemingly grew stronger. He allowed a solo home run to Kendry Morales in the fifth, but with two on and one out, he bore down to retire Chone Figgins and Bobby Abreu. He ended the game retiring seven in a row, three by the strikeout. He is the first Yankee starter to win three postseason games before the World Series since Orlando Hernandez accomplished the feat in 2000.

"It's not easy feat. This is a very dangerous lineup," Girardi said of Sabathia's performance. "For him not to throw a ton of pitches in eight innings, he gave us what we needed."

On the night, Sabathia threw just 101 pitches through eight innings, and only 32 of them were out of the strike zone. He was hitting 95 in the eighth inning and had command and velocity. Pitching on three days' rest, he looked every bit as dominant as he would on a full rest.

The lefty himself shrugged off the short rest. "I didn't feel any different at all. I felt really good," Sabathia said. "Every game is the same. Every game is big at this point."

Still holding onto a safe-but-close 5-1 lead in the eighth, the Yanks started to blow it open. Nick Swisher walked, but pinch runner Brett Gardner was thrown out stealing. Cabrera walked, and with two outs, Johnny Damon blasted a two-run home run to right. In the 9th, the Yankees added three more runs as A-Rod led things off with a double, and Cabrera drove in his third and fourth runs of the night.

The Yanks had put their offensive woes behind them. They knocked out 13 hits, drew seven walks and scored 10 runs for the first time since their final regular season game. They went 4-for-17 with runners in scoring position after Game 3's 0-for-8 effort. Girardi kept repeating that Alex Rodriguez is "locked in" right now, and the same can be said of the Yanks' offense.

The final score belies a controversial game in another sense: Tim McClelland, the crew chief of the umpires, blew two calls at third base. He called Nick Swisher out on appeal in the fourth inning when replays showed Swisher did not leave the base early, and he missed calling Robinson Cano out on a baserunner blunder. After the game, McClelland offered up an excuse. "In my heart, I thought he left too soon," he said.

In the end, though, the Yankees' mistakes and the umpiring meant little. The Yanks walked over the Angels, and they are just one win away from the Fall Classic. "This team is good," Sabathia said of the Yanks. "We've got all the confidence in the world."