In pitching eight innings of the 10-1 Yankees' win over the Angels , Sabathia justified the gamble by Yankees manager Joe Girardi and the Yankees front office to use their ace pitcher twice in the first four games of the series.

While the Yankees had reason and precedent to be patient with Sabathia and pitch him on regular rest, he showed no signs of regression Tuesday night in front of 45,160 fans at Angel Stadium.

Sabathia carried a 96 mph fastball into the eighth and gave a potent Yankees offense plenty of leverage against Scott Kazmir and the Angels , who trail the Yankees, 3-1, and now face elimination in this best-of-seven series.

It gets no easier for the Angels , who must face A.J. Burnett in Game 5, Andy Pettitte in a prospective Game 6, and then, if they are fortunate enough to force a Game 7, Sabathia again for a berth in the World Series.

"This guy didn't miss a beat," Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said. "His fastball looked the same as opening day. We thought three days' rest would be tough on him, but he actually got better."

Kazmir and four relievers combined to allow the most postseason runs by the Angels since Game 5 of the 2002 World Series, when they allowed 16 to the Giants.

Kazmir put the leadoff man on base in all five innings and suffered dearly for it. Although he battled a high pitch count, he held off the Yankees' offense until the fourth, when Robinson Cano drove in the game's first run with a ground ball to second, and Melky Cabrera drove in two more with a single to left field.

"There are only so many 3-2 sliders you can throw to strike some guys out before they start making you pay," Kazmir said.

Two-run homers by Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon put the Yankees ahead 7-1, and a three-run ninth inning - including a two-run double from Cabrera - made it 10-1.

Rodriguez is 6 for 16 in the series with three home runs.

But the lead could have been one run and the Yankees would have been confident, especially with Sabathia going strong, allowing only five hits in eight innings and striking out five.

During the 2009 regular season, 13 starts were made on short rest, and the pitchers responded with limited success, a 5-4 record and 4.43 ERA.

Sabathia is an obvious outlier. In five previous starts on three days of rest, Sabathia was 3-2 with a 2.39 ERA. He pitched three times last season in the regular season on short rest and finished with a 0.83 ERA.

"I never had any doubt about me being able to perform on this stage and to pitch well late in October," Sabathia said. "But it seems like people did. But I feel great. I didn't feel any different at all."

A home run in the fifth inning by Kendry Morales was all the Angels would get off Sabathia. They were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and seemed to be overpowered by Sabathia's combination of fastball and change-up.

The Angels , who are batting .201 in the series and have been outhomered 8-3, will attempt to regroup by Game 5 on Thursday.

"We can never dwell on a game like this," Angels third baseman Chone Figgins said. "We have to realize we still have a chance. Or we have to go down fighting."

Reach Michael Becker at mbecker@PE.com