+Cards left to wonder what went wrong+
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By Anthony Mormile 
SportsTicker Baseball Editor

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) - Welcome to the other side of the coin, Tony
La Russa.

In the 1989 World Series, La Russa's Oakland Athletics -
featuring the Bash Brothers Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco -
pounded their way past the San Francisco Giants, sweeping their
Bay Area rivals in four games.

In that series, the Giants never had the lead and were closed
out in their home park.  Fast forward 15 years and La Russa got
to experience what then-Giants manager Roger Craig had to
endure.

Craig could do nothing right in that series as his team got
outscored, 32-14.  La Russa now can empathize as the Boston Red
Sox completed a sweep of his Cardinals on Wednesday, outscoring
St. Louis, 24-12.

The Cardinals also never had the lead in the series - just the
fourth time that has happened and first instance since 1989.

Like La Russa's Oakland team, this St. Louis squad seemed primed
for battle.  The Cardinals won 105 games in the regular season
and were unbeaten at home in the postseason.  So how did things
go so terribly wrong?  You can begin at the start - or more
precisely, the starters.

St. Louis saw its first three starters go a total of 11 1/3
innings.  Woody Williams and Matt Morris were hit hard in Boston
and Jeff Suppan had nothing when the series returned to Busch
Stadium.

"They are a very patient hitting ballclub," Williams said.  "We
had to make them continually try to hit our pitch, but we didn't
have that success."

In all fairness to the St. Louis starters, there was little room
for error as the Cardinals failed to generate much of anything
with the bats.  They scored nine of their 12 runs in the series
opener and run producers Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds took the
series off, combining to go 1-for-30 with the hit being a bunt
single by Edmonds in the second inning of Game One.

"I don't think they pitched us tough, we just hit some balls
good and they made some good plays.  We missed our pitch and
that's the way it goes," Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols
said.  "What can you do?  It's over, you can't bring this team
back and say, 'I wish I can have that pitch back,' because it's
over."

"They hit the ball extremely well when they had to and kept the
pressure on us.  We didn't have pressure on them at all," said
St. Louis left fielder Reggie Sanders, who was 0-for-9 in the
series.

When St. Louis did have runners on, it failed to produce the
clutch hit or, worse yet for Cardinals fans, ran themselves out
of innings.  The best road team in the major leagues, the
Cardinals appeared intimidated playing at Fenway Park.  One of
the best home teams and surrounded by loyal fans, St. Louis was
treated to a cascade of boos in Games Three and Four.

There was no doubting who was the better team - and to the St.
Louis players' credit, they did not make excuses.

"They played a better game for four games, that's why they're
the world champions," shortstop Edgar Renteria said.

"They showed everything.  They showed a lot of heart, they
showed a lot of talent, they showed that they knew what they
were doing, they outpitched us, they out-hit us and they
outplayed us," Edmonds said.  "That takes a lot of everything,
not just luck or talent or this and that, it takes every aspect
of the game to be right.  They outplayed us and they deserve to
be spraying champagne."

A champagne celebration was not predicted for St. Louis, not in
the deep National League Central Division.  But the Cardinals
raised the bar during a regular season in which it showed few
flaws.

Now exposed against the relentless Red Sox, it is going to take
awhile to put this year in perspective.  La Russa tried before
breaking down following Game Four.

"In spring training, we thought we had a chance for the ring,"
La Russa said.  "We had to play good in the regular season with
the tough division, and we did that.  We survived two rounds of
playoffs, so it's a huge disappointment. ..."

After regrouping, La Russa tried again to express his feelings.

"It's an outstanding club, one of the neatest clubs to be around
in 27 years of managing," La Russa said.  "It was terrific, but
we were short, so it's disappointing."

st 10-28-04 03:33 et