Sure, CC dominated and A-Rod homered and the Yankees cruised to within one game of the pennant, but all anyone is talking about is the atrocious umpiring from Game 4. There were three blatantly blown calls, the most glaring of which was McClelland’s botched ruling at third base.

We covered it last night, but briefly what occurred: Cano was on second, Posada on third with one out. There was a comebacker to the Angels pitcher Darren Oliver, who threw home to engage Posada in a rundown. Posada overran third attempting to get back to the base, and Cano stopped several feet short of third realizing him and Posada cannot occupy the same base. Angels catcher Mike Napoli tagged them both out while they were both clearly not touching the bag, as you can see above. Only problem: McClelland, for some reason, ruled Cano safe and only Posada out.

Annnnyway, here’s the explanation after the game from McClelland himself:

"I thought Cano was on the base and I was waiting for two players to be on the base. There never was a situation they were both on the bag at the same time," McClelland said. "(The replay) showed that Cano was off the bag when he was tagged."

So, essentially, he assumed that both players would just stand on the bag — as tends to happen in these situations — and wait for the ump to decide which one of them is out. Why he would do this instead of, you know, watching what was actually happening is still a mystery.

McClelland was also the man behind the ruling that Nick Swisher left the bag too early on a tag play in which he scored. Replays showed this to be incorrect as well, as seen above. And why did he make that call? He listened to his heart:

"I’m not sure I believe the replay, because in my heart I had him leaving too soon, but the replays showed that he didn’t," McClelland said.

In case you’re scoring at home, that’s Technology: 1, McClelland’s Vital Organs: 0.

Halos Heaven is a bitter crowd tonight; not really happy with several calls that went against their club, including the double tag play at third base. They sum it up nicely here:

If only the phone records and bank statements of the umpiring crew could be more closely scrutinized prior to Thursday evening.

Meanwhile Pinstripe Alley celebrated all the goodness of CC Sabathia and A-Rod.

Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - CC Sabathia threw eight masterful innings on short rest and Alex Rodriguez homered for a third straight game as the New York Yankees moved within a victory of a return to the World Series with a 10-1 blowout of the Angels.

Melky Cabrera had three hits and knocked in four runs, and Johnny Damon belted a two-run homer for the Yankees, who hold a commanding 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series. The Yankees are on the verge of their first trip to the Fall Classic since 2003 when they lost in six games to the Florida Marlins.

Starting on three days' rest for the first time in 2009 and for just the sixth time in his career, Sabathia (3-0) allowed five hits, including a homer to Kendry Morales, walked two batters and fanned five. Sabathia retired the final eight batters he faced.

"I never had any doubt about me being able to perform on this stage and to pitch well late in October," said Sabathia. "But it seems like people did. But I feel great. Hopefully I can keep it going."

Through two games of this ALCS, the big southpaw has limited the Angels to a pair of runs in 16 innings. He has three walks and 20 strikeouts thus far in the postseason.

Rodriguez, who went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and three scored, has an RBI in eight straight postseason games, tying the major league record. Lou Gehrig accomplished the feat from 1928-32 and Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard tied the mark in Monday's 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series.

Rodriguez already has five homers and 11 RBI in the playoffs this year.

"He's been as clutch as anybody could have hoped for on their side," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "He's a heck of a player. He's playing his game right now. We're obviously going to have to do a little better job of making some pitches on him."

The teams have a day off before playing Game 5 at Angel Stadium on Thursday when the Yankees, in search of a record 27th World Series title, can lock up the AL pennant. New York will start A.J. Burnett, while the Angels turn to John Lackey.

The Halos snapped a six-game LCS losing streak with a dramatic 5-4 victory in 11 innings Monday afternoon, but were limited to five hits in Game 4.

Scott Kazmir (0-1) was touched for six hits and four runs over four-plus innings and suffered the loss for Los Angeles.

Kazmir escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the second by retiring three straight batters and he fanned Mark Teixeira to end the third, leaving Damon at second base.

Trouble ensued in the fourth though for the Angels lefty as Rodriguez led off with a single and Jorge Posada doubled to left field. Hideki Matsui then fanned before Robinson Cano hit a grounder to second baseman Howie Kendrick, whose throw home was high as Rodriguez barely slid in safely under a high tag from Mike Napoli.

Nick Swisher walked and Cabrera followed with a two-run base hit to left field. The throw from left fielder Juan Rivera to the plate was high as Napoli missed a sweep tag of Cano. That hit snapped an 0-for-26 string for the Yankees with runners in scoring position.

A replay showed the Angels had Swisher picked off second, but he was called safe and the umpiring crew made another mistake in the inning, this one costing the Yankees a run. Jeter walked before Damon was retired on an apparent sacrifice fly to center field, but it turned into an inning-ending double play. That's because the Angels appealed Swisher left the base too early and third base umpire Tim McClelland agreed, although replays showed otherwise.

Teixeira singled to lead off the fifth. Jason Bulger then relieved Kazmir, but Rodriguez belted an 0-1 pitch over the wall in left field. It gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

"The game slows down for you, no doubt about it," said Rodriguez of his hot hitting. "You feel like you want to see the ball and hit it hard and not try to do too much. But the best way I can describe it is you feel like the game is slowing down for you a little bit."

There was more controversy for McClelland later in the inning. Posada walked and Cano laced a one-out double off Darren Oliver to center field. Swisher then hit a ball back to Oliver, who threw home to get Posada in a rundown. Posada went back to third, where Cano advanced. Both players were off the base and Napoli tagged each of them, but McClelland ruled only Posada out. Cabrera grounded into a force play to end the inning.

"I did not see that for whatever reason," admitted McClelland. "I'm just out there trying to do my job and do it the best I can. And unfortunately there was by instant replay, there were two missed calls."

Sabathia retired 10 straight batters until Morales homered to center with one out in the fifth. Singles by Napoli and Erick Aybar put runners at the corners, but Sabathia retired Chone Figgins on a force play and Bobby Abreu's fly out kept it a 5-1 margin.

The Angels had their first two men on base in the sixth, but Rivera grounded into a double play and Torii Hunter was left at third when Kendrick lined out to Teixeira at first base.

"That changeup he was throwing for the last couple of times we saw him wasn't nearly as consistent as it is now," added Scioscia. "I thought that was probably the biggest thing we had trouble adjusting to tonight. He threw it on off-counts and had great command of it. He was the story in the two games, Game 1 and this game. CC is the story. He pitched a terrific game for them."

Sabathia needed just 12 pitches to retire the side in order in the seventh and the lead ballooned in the eighth when Damon crushed a two-run homer to right field off Matt Palmer.

Rodriguez doubled to lead off the ninth and scored on Abreu's errant throw to third following Posada's fly out. Cabrera tacked on a two-run double for the final margin.

Sabathia has walked just three batters in 22 2/3 innings this postseason after recording 22 walks in his prior 25 playoff frames...The Yankees went 4-for-17 with runners in scoring position, while the Angels finished 0-for-6...Sabathia threw 69 of his 101 pitches for strikes.

— Full Boxscore

(Sports Network) - CC Sabathia takes the hill on three days' rest this evening, when the New York Yankees try to get back on track in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium.

Since the inception of the Wild Card in 1995, starting pitchers have worked on short rest -- three days or less -- 85 times in the postseason and are a combined 20-34 with a 4.65 earned run average.

Sabathia pitched on three days rest in last year's NLDS for Milwaukee, but was rocked by Philadelphia for five runs in just 3 2/3 innings. That outing, though, followed up three September starts he made on short rest that saw him go 2-1 with an 0.83 ERA.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal going [on] three days' rest," Sabathia said. "Everybody made such a big deal of it last year. But if you're healthy enough during the year, I think anybody is able to do it."

Entering this season Sabathia had pitched to a 7.92 ERA in the playoffs, but he has been tremendous for the Yankees this year, going 2-0 while allowing just two runs in 14 2/3 innings (1.23 ERA).

"The thing about CC is he didn't have the amount of innings that he had the last two years in the regular season," manager Joe Girardi said. "We slowed him down. He's been able to have extra rest, and that's why we feel good about it. We wouldn't ask him to do something that we didn't think he was capable of or that he had [no] chance to be successful at."

The big lefty, who hasn't lost since July 28, was brilliant against the Angels in Game 1 of this series on Friday, as he surrendered a run and four hits in eight innings. He also struck out seven and walked a batter.

However, Sabathia lost both of his regular-season starts to the Angels and is 5-7 lifetime against them with a 4.72 ERA in 14 games.

New York is going to need a big start from Sabathia tonight after relying heavily on its bullpen the last two games. After winning a 13-inning contest on Saturday, the Yankees blew an early three-run lead and found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-4, 11-inning decision on Monday.

Jeff Mathis' line drive in the gap in left-center scored Howie Kendrick with the game-winning run as the Angels cut New York's series lead to 2-1 in this best-of-seven set. Kendrick finished 3-for-5 with a solo homer and a triple.

"Obviously it's the biggest hit of my life," Mathis said. "I mean, to come through and for Howie to have the at-bat he did right there and get on base and put one in the gap and score to win the game, it's a pretty good feeling."

The Yankees, who lost for the first time this postseason, had been 30-0 in ALCS games when leading by three-plus runs.

After Ervin Santana (1-1) hurled a perfect top of the 11th, New York's David Robertson recorded two quick outs in the bottom half before Yankees manager Joe Girardi opted for reliever Alfredo Aceves (0-1).

"It's just different kind of stuff against those hitters," Girardi said in his brief postgame explanation. "And we have all the matchups and all the scouting reports and we felt that, you know, it was a better matchup for us."

Kendrick greeted Aceves with a seeing-eye single up the middle and Mathis followed by driving a high fastball to left-center that was just out of the reach of Jerry Hairston Jr., with Kendrick coming in to score without a play at the plate to end the four-hour, 21-minute affair.

The Yankees scored all of their runs off solo blasts by Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada. Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher, though, combined to go 0-for-9 and left 12 men on base.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, continued his amazing postseason, as he is hitting .348 with four home runs and nine RBI in this year's playoffs . He has also drove in a run in seven straight postseason games, one shy of the Major League record held by Ryan Howard, who is in the midst of the streak now, and Lou Gehrig.

Hoping to slow Rodriguez down tonight will be left-hander Scott Kazmir, who will try for a better effort tonight than his ALDS outing. Kazmir did not get a decision in the Game 3 win over Boston, but allowed five runs and five hits in six innings.

"I'm going to have to be very good facing Sabathia, because he's not going to give up much," Kazmir said. "You have to match him every inning. That's what I'm looking forward to doing."

Despite winning just two of his six regular-season starts with the Angels, Kazmir pitched to a 1.73 ERA after being acquired from Tampa Bay in late August.

One of his two losses with the Angels, though, came at the hands of the Yankees, who beat him on September 23. He is 6-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) against them.

"I'm excited," Kazmir said. "Very excited. I'm up for the challenge. I don't put any extra pressure on myself. I just go out there and pitch my game. With this team, the Yankees, they're a very high-powered offense, so you just have to attack the strike zone. I'm not going to try to do anything extra, just pitch my game."

The Angels have beaten the Yankees in both of their postseason meetings. Los Angeles got the best of New York in 2002 on its way to a World Series championship, then beat the Yankees again in five games in the 2005 ALDS.

In fact, since 1995, the Angels have been the only AL team to give the Yankees a losing record (68-80, .459).

The Angels split their 10 games with the Yankees in the regular season, but New York won three of the last four meetings. New York, though, won only two of its six games in Anaheim this season and has won there in just three of its last 12 visits.

- Via Sports Network