(My Sportsbook) - The St. Louis Cardinals ended the 2004 regular season atop the majors in wins (105), first in the National League in runs (855) and second in ERA (3.75), but they were no match for the power and desire of the Boston Red Sox.

The Cardinals were swept in four games in the World Series after losing 3-0 Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.

In a season that saw the Cardinals dominate offensively with Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, St. Louis' bats disappeared just as the moon was fading during a lunar eclipse Wednesday night.

The combination of Rolen, Edmonds and Reggie Sanders wilted under the pressure from the Boston hurlers, hitting a disastrous 1-for-39 in the World Series. St. Louis scored just three runs over its final three contests and lost its third straight World Series, also falling in seven games to Minnesota in 1987 and in seven to Kansas City in 1985.

"In spring training we thought we had a chance for the ring," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa trembled. "We had to play good in the regular season, tough division, we did that. We survived two playoffs, so it's a huge disappointment. It's an outstanding club, one of the neatest clubs to be around in 27 years of managing. It's terrific, but we were short, so it was disappointing."

The starting pitching of the Cardinals left a lot to be desired too. Jason Marquis was the only starter to last at least five innings, as he gave up six hits, three runs and five walks with four strikeouts through six innings of Game 4.

Marquis fell behind right from the outset as Johnny Damon led off the game with a homer, and just like the previous games, the Cardinals were forced to play catch-up, but couldn't match Boston's strong rotation.

"They outplayed us in every category, so it ended up not being a terrific competition, but give them credit and congratulate them," La Russa said. "We were ready to play. We didn't play good enough. We just got outplayed, outpitched."

It was an odd way to end the season, especially for a team that was so dominant during the regular season, winning the NL Central by 13 games over Houston and then rallying to dispose of the Astros in seven games in the NLCS.

Larry Walker (5-for-14) and Pujols (5-for-15) had a few hits in the World Series, but the two combined for only two homers and three RBI, all from Walker. Pujols was totally ineffective after hitting .500 with four homers and nine RBI during the NLCS.

The sweep was especially crushing for La Russa, who suffered defeat for the eighth straight World Series game after he was also swept in the 1990 Fall Classic by Cincinnati while the skipper of Oakland.