Associated Press
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals seemingly could do no wrong during the regular season.
But that 105-win team bore no resemblance to the bunch that flopped in the World Series, losing 3-0 to Boston on Wednesday night and getting swept in four games by the Red Sox.
"I wish we would have given them a tougher fight," Reggie Sanders said. "They put the pressure on and we didn't have pressure on them at all."
The Cardinals had the National League's best offense and the second-best pitching staff. Not in the World Series, where they batted a feeble .190 and had a 6.09 ERA. The lineup was littered with historically bad performances at the plate, most notably by their trio of MVP candidates. And, the Cardinals' rotation, minus injured Chris Carpenter, was exposed as average.
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"They outplayed us in every category," manager Tony La Russa said. "So it ended up not being a terrific competition."
The Cardinals totaled 12 runs, the fewest since the Braves had nine in 1999.
Cleanup hitter Scott Rolen, second in the NL with 124 RBIs, was 0-for-15 with one RBI. No. 5 hitter Jim Edmonds, who hit 42 homers and had a career-best 111 RBIs, was 1-for-15 with no RBIs. Sanders was 0-for-9 with five strikeouts before getting benched in favor of John Mabry in Game 4. Mabry continued that trend, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Albert Pujols and Larry Walker had their moments, but never with any support from the rest of the offense. Pujols, Rolen and Edmonds were horrible in the clutch, going a combined 1-for-12.
