PHILADELPHIA -- Alex Rodriguez waited all game long for this hit. Heck, he waited his whole life.

Rodriguez came up with the biggest hit of his career, a go-ahead, two-out double in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge and the New York Yankees took advantage of Johnny Damon's daring dash to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4, last night at Citizens Bank Park for a 3-1 lead in the World Series.

Derek Jeter delivered again and Mariano Rivera closed it out as the Yankees moved within one win of that elusive 27th championship and first since 2000. Rodriguez could really savor this victory -- seething after again being hit by a pitch, he struck back with his potent black bat.

The Yankees will try to clinch it tonight when A.J. Burnett faces October ace Cliff Lee.

"Facing Brad Lidge, he's a great competitor. He's had a lot of success late here. Just trying to make contact there," Rodriguez said.

Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz hit late home runs for the Phillies that tied it at 4-4. Then it moved to the ninth and the Phillies brought in Lidge -- a postseason star last year, he had struggled all season before regaining his touch this October.

But November was not so kind to him.

Lidge had been the only closer in the playoffs who hadn't allowed a run until the Yankees tagged him. With two outs, Damon capped a nine-pitch at-bat with a single. The Phillies overshifted their infield to the right side for Mark Teixeira and Damon took off.

Damon beat the one-hop throw to steal second, popped up from his slide and noticed no one was covering third. That's because Feliz had handled the throw, and Damon easily beat the third baseman to the bag for a rare double steal -- fact is, who had ever seen it?

Rattled or whatever, Lidge hit Teixeira with a pitch. So up stepped Rodriguez, 1 for 13 to that point in his first World Series and looking nothing like the feared slugger he was earlier in these playoffs.

Putting all his past postseason failures behind, Rodriguez lined a solid double into the left-field corner for a 5-4 lead. He connected so solidly, the sound echoed throughout Citizens Bank Park. Maybe it wasn't such a surprise -- Rodriguez had homered and doubled in three prior at-bats against Lidge.

The crowd was silent when Jorge Posada followed with a two-run single. And just like that, the Yankees were on the verge of celebrating and the defending champion Phillies were on the brink of getting eliminated.

Feliz rocked Yankees setup man Joba Chamberlain with a two-out, solo home run in the eighth that tied it at 4-4.

Utley homered again off CC Sabathia, finishing New York's starter in the seventh. It was Utley's third shot off Sabathia in this Series and closed the Phillies to 4-3.

That's when it was all starting to slip away from the Yankees.

Sabathia and Chamberlain had let the Phillies tie the score. Lidge was on the mound, dominating Hideki Matsui and even Jeter.

And up walked Damon, with as pesky an at-bat you'll ever see. By the time Lidge got that third out, the inning snowballed on Philadelphia and the Yankees spurted past the Phillies.

Now, sparked by Damon, Rodriguez and Posada, the Yankees are 27 outs from that 27th World Series title -- finally back to where they were the night Arizona rallied against Rivera in the desert in 2001.

"I'm proud of our guys for battling with two outs against a tough pitcher," Damon said.

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