Red Sox outplay Cardinals in every facet of game

The sign at Busch Stadium pleaded: “Will the real Cardinals report and play?”

The answer in Game 4, as in the first three games, was emphatic: No!

“They outplayed us in every category,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “So it ended up not being a terrific competition. We survived two playoffs, so it’s a huge disappointment.”

The team that led the major leagues with 105 victories, had the National League’s best offense and second-best pitching staff, fell flat on its face in the World Series in a stunning sweep by the Boston Red Sox. The lineup was littered with historically bad performances at the plate, most notably by their trio of Most Valuable Player candidates.

“I don’t think they pitched us tough, we just hit some balls good and they made some good plays. … That’s the way it goes,” said Albert Pujols of the Cardinals.

“What can you do? It’s over.”

Before Jason Marquis gutted out six innings in a 3-0 Game 4 loss on Wednesday night, St. Louis had received little out of its rotation. Marquis was the first starter to last long enough to qualify for a victory. The three who preceded him lasted a total of 112/3 innings and allowed 15 runs.

Cardinals pitchers allowed at least one run in the first inning of all four games. St. Louis was dominated so completely, it never led once.

The Cardinals waited 17 years between World Series trips, only to go home with a dubious distinction: Only one team had more victories before getting swept, the 1954 Indians, who were 114-43 before losing to the New York Giants.

The wait was nearly as long for La Russa. Maybe it was more gut-wrenching on a personal level, considering that in his last shot at the championship in 1990 his heavily favored Oakland Athletics were swept by the Cincinnati Reds.

But the team will remember the good things, too. Before the season, the Cardinals were generally thought of as the third-best team in the N.L. Central.

“We had a great season, and beat two tough teams to get here,” said Bill DeWitt Jr., the team’s general partner and chairman of the board. “Whoever you play in the World Series is going to be a great team, and we caught a great team that was hot.

“They won their last eight games, and when you get on a roll like that it’s hard to stop.”

St. Louis went quietly, tiptoeing off the stage. The Cardinals scored one run in the last two games at home, where they had been 6-0 in the postseason, and were a woeful 4 for 28 with runners in scoring position in the Series.

Garciaparra gets his share

The Red Sox have not forgotten Nomar Garciaparra.

Reports said the team voted a full playoff share to its former shortstop, who was traded to the Chicago Cubs in a deal that helped spark Boston’s resurgence this season.

“I voted him to have a full share because he was a big part of us getting to the point we got,” said pitcher Tim Wakefield, the team’s longest-tenured player and its former union representative. “And I think he deserves it.”

The five-time All-Star was one of the best players in Red Sox history, but was hurt by the team’s attempts to trade him for Alex Rodriguez last off-season.

When the deal fell through, Garciaparra remained in Boston.

He was sent to Chicago on July 31 for former Gold Glove winners Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. The Red Sox responded with improved defense that led them to the best record in baseball the rest of the way.

TV ratings high

Boston’s 4-1 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night received a 15.7 rating and 24 share, the highest for Game 3 of the World Series since the New York Yankees’ 5-2 win over Atlanta in 1996 got a 17.5/28.

In Boston, the game averaged a 54.3/71 and in St. Louis it averaged a 45.5/59.

The first three games averaged a 15.0/25, up 26 percent from the 11.9/21 for last year’s games between Florida and the Yankees and the highest since the first three games between Atlanta and the Yankees in 1996 averaged a 15.8/25.

The rating is the percentage of television households tuned to a telecast, and the share is the percentage tuned to a telecast among those households with televisions on at the time.

Elsewhere in baseball

San Francisco will host the 2007 All-Star game, an official with Major League Baseball told The Associated Press. … An unidentified buyer won San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds‘ 700th home-run ball with an $804,129 bid. … Rafael Palmeiro re-signed with the Baltimore Orioles, taking a pay cut and accepting a one-year, $3 million contract. … John Russell, a former catcher with the Philadelphia Phillies, interviewed with the team for their managerial position.