ST. LOUIS, Missouri, Oct 27 (AFP) - Putting an end to 86 years of futility and frustration, the Boston Red Sox completed a sweep of the 100th World Series here Wednesday, ending baseball's Curse of the Bambino once and for all.
Boston pitcher Derek Lowe allowed only three hits in seven scoreless innings and the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 to win the best-of-seven final in four games and capture their first championship since 1918.
"All our fans across the world waited for this night and it's finally here," said Red Sox owner John Henry, a childhood Cardinals fan.
Johnny Damon opened the game with a home run and Trot Nixon added a two-run double in the third inning for the only scoring the Red Sox needed.
Boston relief pitcher Keith Foulke made the historic final out, lobbing a ground ball hit by Edgar Renteria to first base to touch off a wild scene of jubilation on the field.
"We got out of here with the ring we needed. Now we can celebrate," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "I'm sure there are a lot of people in New England that are dancing in the streets now. I can't wait to go back and join them."
Generations of devoted supporters had waited decades for a crown by the long-suffering Red Sox, whose near-misses and failed opportunities became legendary in American sport.
"There have been so many people in their 90s who said, 'I just want to live long enough to see one championship before I die.' This is for them," Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said.
The Red Sox won five of the first 15 World Series titles, including the 1903 debut. But they had won none since star Babe Ruth was sold to the rival New York Yankees in 1919 to launch the fabled curse bearing his nickname.
"I didn't believe in it. I wasn't around then," Francona said. "We can't reverse what was a long time ago... This was our team this year. You can't do anything else about any other year."
Boston's agony ended on the first night a lunar eclipse took place in the sky above a World Series game, although some might say it was Ruth's ghost winking from the heavens rather than Earth's shadow blocking a full moon.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," Lowe said. "No more going to Yankee Stadium and listening to (chants of) '1918' - finally."
A Red Sox club that never seemed to get a break played a World Series in which every edge seemingly went in their favor - almost as if they were destiny's darlings after decades of mistreatment.
Boston, which never trailed in the Series, scored 12 of their 24 Series runs with two outs, took advantage of St. Louis base-running blunders to end threats and escaped major harm from four errors in each of the first two games.
Lowe, who struck out three, surrendered a leadoff single but retired the next 13 batters he faced. The right-hander baffled the Cardinals, throwing 54 of his 85 pitches for strikes.
Lowe and game three winner Pedro Martinez are free agents who might have made their last throws for the Red Sox.
"Hopefully we'll stay," Lowe said.
"That's a question for another day," Sox general manager Theo Epstein said.
Boston's Manny Ramirez, named the Series' Most Valuable Player, singled in the third inning to stretch his playoff hit streak to 17 games, matching the Major League Baseball record co-owned by Yankees' Derek Jeter and Hank Bauer.
The Red Sox won their final eight games in a row, routing the Cardinals after making the greatest playoff comeback in baseball history to beat the Yankees in the American League final after losing the first three games.
"When I look back and see all the opportunities we had to lose, I'm glad we didn't look ahead," Francona said.
Boston ousted baseball's richest lineup, New York's 183 million-dollar team, and swept a St. Louis club that won a major league-best 105 games this season, breaking the hearts of Cardinals fans who have not seen a title since 1982.
"That must be disgusting to them," St. Louis pitcher Woody Williams said. "I hate to say it overwhelmed us, but we haven't played the way we are capable of playing."
St. Louis became the second-winningest club in major league history to be swept in the World Series, surpassed in humiliation only by the 1954 Cleveland Indians, who won 114 games.
"The best record indicates you had the most working for a six-month season," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "The team that wins the Series is the team that played the best baseball."
The Red Sox became the third consecutive wild-card playoff qualifier to win the Series. They enjoyed a home-field edge in the Series over St. Louis because the American League beat the National in the mid-season All-Star Game.
10/28/2004 04:59 GMT - AFP