AJ was on regular rest when he pitched Game 5 against the Angels...and look how well that worked out. He gave up 4 runs in the first inning before he even had an out. There's no guarantee he would have sailed through that game last night.
You can't honestly say pitching Gaudin would have been a good thing - he's pitched 1 inning in the postseason and only 2-1/3 since 9/28. Forget losing the battle to win the war, that's crap. We'd still have to go home and face Pedro again and possibly Lee again on short rest. Phillies arms are getting tired too (first thing my Phillies-fan friend said this morning) - Yankees were hitting Lee last night and if it weren't for the bullpen melting down they damn near tied it.
They have no pitching depth beyond those 3 starters ever since they lost Chien-Ming Wang and Joba tanked during the stretch, and prepared for this all through September. We all knew that. If he'd sent Gaudin out there and he was the one who blew the game, Girardi would be getting fried for not sending AJ out there. You don't concede a game, you do everything you can to win a game.
Andy's had 5 career postseason starts on 3 days rest, he's 4-1 with a 2.80 ERA, two of them were World Series games which he won. I got faith in Andy, I trust him out there more than I trust Burnett on full rest or short rest.