DEREK LOWE: He pitched so badly at the end of the season he lost his job in the rotation. All he did was come back and get the win in all three clinching games, with a solid seven innings in Game 7.
SCOTT ROLEN: Just about any Cardinals hitter would do, but when the Cardinals needed Rolen the most he came up empty, his 0-for-4 night capping an 0-for-15 Series.
KEY MOMENT
The St. Louis crowd was worked into such a pregame frenzy there just may have been enough energy to jolt the Cardinals to life, but Johnny Damon's leadoff home run took care of that, and the Cardinals.
SECOND GUESS
Manager Tony La Russa's attention to every detail served the Cardinals well during the regular season, but they seemed tight and on edge throughout the Series. He should have seen this coming and found a way to relax them.
HE SAID IT
"We're in a situation where if we screw up, it's on ESPN Classic every night."
- DOUG MIENTKIEWICZ, Red Sox first baseman, on the pressure
DID YOU KNOW ...
Derek Lowe was the winning pitcher in Boston's division series-clinching win against Anaheim, pennant-clinching win against New York and Series-clinching win against St. Louis, making him the first pitcher to pick up three clinching wins in a season.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Jackie MacMullan in the Boston Globe:
They are like a big lobster pot on a piping hot stove, churning and bubbling, ready to boil over. The Red Sox have a three-games-to-
none lead over the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, and all of their dreams - and yours - are about to come true. The local nine is bursting with optimism, yet the players continue to guard against letting their emotions spill over until St. Louis is completely cooked.
How did this happen? How is it this band of self-described idiots, with raggy hair and baggy pants and shabby defense (eight errors through the first two games) find themselves on the cusp of doing something Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Roger Clemens and Nomar Garciaparra never were able to achieve wearing the Boston uniform?
