There’s no place like home for Cardinals

Unable to come up with clutch hits in the first two games of the World Series in quirky Fenway Park, the St. Louis Cardinals were in a hurry to get home.

The Cardinals left for St. Louis – where they’re 6-0 this postseason – in the middle of the night after their 6-2 loss to the Red Sox in Game 2 on Sunday night.

“We’re down two, and it’s going to be our turn to have homefield advantage, hopefully,” Jim Edmonds said. “Hopefully, we take advantage of it.”

World Series history is against the Cardinals. Of 33 teams who dropped the first two games on the road, only five have rallied to win the championship.

However, they beat the Astros in a pair of must-win games to take the N.L. Championship Series in seven games. And they’re perfect at home in the postseason.

“We’re tough mentally. We’re not down at all,” Reggie Sanders said. “I think the most important thing for us is to continue to play good, solid baseball, and we’re doing that, and things will turn around.”

Quick starts have led to Red Sox wins

The St. Louis Cardinals didn’t want to get beaten by Manny Ramirez or David Ortiz.

A lot of good that did them.

Boston catcher Jason Varitek tripled home the team’s two MVP candidates to give the Red Sox another early lead in their 6-2 win over St. Louis in Game 2 of the World Series on Sunday. Boston’s sixth consecutive playoff victory gave it a 2-0 lead with a chance to close out its first title since 1918.

“Jason’s had some clutch hits for us. Everybody knows that,” reliever Alan Embree said. “There’s no letdown in this lineup. You can’t go through the lineup and go, ‘Phew! I got past Manny,’ because you’ve got Jason coming up.”

It was the second night in a row the Red Sox pounced on the Cardinals’ starter in the first inning, scoring four in the first off Woody Williams and taking a 7-2 lead in Game 1. Williams and Game 2 starter Matt Morris have allowed 11 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, an ERA of 8.15.

Sunday, Morris pitched around Ramirez and Ortiz in the first, walking them both with two outs. That made sense: Ortiz was the MVP of the A.L. Championship Series and hit a first-inning homer off Williams in Game 1; Ramirez, who might win the regular-season MVP, had three hits Saturday night.

“We try to make sure that they have to pitch to those two guys,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who put Varitek fifth in the order, behind Ortiz. Varitek didn’t start Game 1 so Doug Mirabelli could catch knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

“The way they are approaching David Ortiz, I don’t blame them,” Francona said. “They don’t want him to beat them, and with Varitek … swinging the bat like that gives us an added dimension, another weapon in the middle of that order.”

•The Red Sox followed the bouncing ball – off their gloves and hands – to a commanding World Series lead.

Four errors in the first game? Boston still beat St. Louis 11-9. Another four miscues in Game 2? Just a slapstick sidelight to a 6-2 victory.

More errors in the third game?

“If it takes making four errors and we win Game 3, so be it,” center fielder Johnny Damon said Sunday night.

But none of the Red Sox want to set any more records for fielding futility when they play the third game in St. Louis tonight.

“Our defense will affect us if we don’t play better,” shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. “Somehow it will catch up with us. They haven’t taken advantage of it, but they will.”

The Cardinals had five hits Sunday night, just one more than the number of errors the Red Sox committed.

Randolph interviews with Mets

Willie Randolph interviewed for the New York Mets’ managerial job, and stressed that his many years with the Yankees will serve him well if he gets a chance to run a team that proved a big flop in the second half of the season.

“I’m a winner; I know about winning,” he said during a conference call. “That’s what you have to rely on. It’s not rocket science.”

Rangers promote Kennedy, Chavarria

The Texas Rangers have announced the 2005 coaching staffs for the organization’s three highest minor league affiliates, including the promotion of manager Darryl Kennedy from the Spokane Indians of the short-season Northwest League to the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Texas League.

Kennedy enters his eighth season managing in the Rangers’ system, including the last two seasons at Spokane. He guided the Indians to the Northwest League championship in 2003. He will be assisted at Frisco by pitching coach Steve Luebber and coach Ronnie Ortegon.

Dave Chavarria, the pitching coach at Spokane under Kennedy for two seasons, has been promoted to the Bakersfield Blaze of the California League.