Last Night's Action: Yankees One Win Away From Pennant

Left photograph of CC Sabathia by Jae C. Hong/AP; right photograph of Alex Rodriguez hitting his 5th inning home run by Chris Carlson/AP

Yankees 10 Angels 1: For the first time in five years, the Yankees are one win away from the World Series. Everyone knows what happened in 2004, so the team should not be guilty of counting its chickens before they hatch. CC Sabathia pitched eight innings of one-run ball -- on three days' rest -- and Alex Rodriguez continued his monster postsesaon by going 3-for-4 with a homer. He also scored the game's first run. Melky Cabrera also went 3-for-4 and had a critical two-run single.

The Yankees put runners on all night long against Scott Kazmir, but they didn't break through until their three-run third. They added two in the fifth on Rodriguez's two-run shot and then put it away late. Sabathia allowed only a solo homer to Kendry Morales, though he did need to escape jams in the fifth and sixth.

After an off-day, the teams play Game 5 on Thursday in Anaheim. A.J. Burnett will face John Lackey. Lest anyone forget, the last two American League Championhip Series have had 3-1 margins. Each had a seventh game. The Yankees aren't out of the woods yet. The next game is tomorrow night, in Los Angeles, at 7:57 p.m. (EST).