St. Louis, MO -- Derek Lowe pitched seven scoreless innings and Trot Nixon went 3-for-4 with three doubles and two RBI, as the Boston Red Sox finally ended their long-standing curse and won the World Series for the first time since 1918 by defeating St. Louis, 3-0, in Game 4 of the Fall Classic at Busch Stadium.

Johnny Damon had two hits, including a homer to start the game, for the Red Sox, who swept the best-of-seven set to earn their sixth World Series title in the franchise's history, but the first since selling the rights of the legendary Babe Ruth to the Yankees before the 1920 season.

"We know we are idiots, we know we are cowboys, but we also know we are world champions," said Damon.

Lowe (1-0), who began the postseason in Boston's bullpen, earned the win after putting together his second straight dominant outing as a starter. He allowed just three hits while striking out four and walking one to improve to 3-0 in this year's playoffs.

"It is just an unbelievable feeling," said Lowe. "No more going to Yankee Stadium and having to listen to '1918!'"

The righthander, who will be a free agent in the offseason, was also on the mound for Game 7 of the ALCS against New York and yielded only one run on one hit over six solid innings.

The Red Sox starting pitching proved to be the difference in the series as the trio of Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez and Lowe did not yield an earned run in their 20 combined innings over the final three games.

"I thought we had a great scouting report, very in depth," said Boston manager Terry Francona. "Great pitching coach. And I got to say two great catchers, that took the time to go over the reports and pass them on. But what it comes down to is having really, really good pitchers, follow the game plan and are able to follow it. And the other thing is sometimes a short series, when you catch guys at a the right time, and again, we won tonight."

Manny Ramirez was named the MVP of the World Series after ending with a .412 average (7-for-17) with one homer and four RBI.

"It means a lot," Ramirez said of winning the MVP. "But I want to get the ring, and I have it. That's something that nobody is going to take away from you. The other stuff, you never know when you're going to get it. But I'm just blessed to be the MVP and to win a World Series. I think God is blessing me with a lot of stuff, my two kids, my wife, everything. I have it all. There's nothing that I can complain about."

Ramirez also recorded a hit in every game of the playoffs and tied a postseason record shared by Hank Bauer and Derek Jeter of the Yankees by hitting safely in his 17th straight postseason contest dating back to Game 5 of the 2003 ALCS.

"I don't believe in curses, I believe in our own destination," said Ramirez.

Boston ended the postseason by setting a playoff record with eight straight victories. The Red Sox started the string of wins when they became the first team in baseball history to rally from an 0-3 deficit and win a series when they beat the Yankees in the ALCS.

"All of our fans have waited all their lives for this night, and it's finally here," said Boston principal owner John Henry as he was accepting the World Series trophy. "These guys did it for you, New England."

Edgar Renteria had two hits for the Cardinals, who have now lost three straight trips to the World Series.

Jason Marquis (0-1) took the loss after being peppered for three runs on six hits over six innings. Marquis, who tossed 121 pitches, walked five and fanned four.

St. Louis was plagued all series by the inability of its big hitters to get on base as Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders ended the set just a combined 1-for-39. Rolen, the team's cleanup hitter, was 0-for-15 in the series, Edmonds had only one hit in 15 plate appearances while Sanders finished 0-for-9.

The Cardinals, who led the National League in runs scored during the regular season, totaled just three runs over the final three games. In addition, MVP candidate Albert Pujols did not drive in a run all series.

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa 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.

"We started to -- in spring training we thought we had a chance for the ring," said La Russa. "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."

Boston wasted no time jumping on Marquis as Damon led off the game with a homer to deep right field.

"We knew how good the Cardinals are and we knew if they had a chance to score first the momentum would have changed to their side," said Damon.

The Red Sox, who went 11-3 in the playoffs, were 10-0 in the postseason when scoring first.

In the Red Sox second, Nixon doubled with one out and Mark Bellhorn followed with a walk. After Lowe sacrificed both runners over a base, Damon had a chance to widen the lead, but grounded out to first to end the inning.

Boston made it 3-0 in the third courtesy of Nixon's two-run double. Ramirez singled with one out and David Ortiz followed with a double down the right field line. Jason Varitek then ripped a grounder to first, but Pujols fielded it and threw home where Mike Matheny tug out Ramirez at the plate.

Bill Mueller was then walked on four pitches to load the bases and Nixon connected on a 3-0 fastball off the wall in center field for a three-run advantage. Bellhorn was intentionally walked to again the load the bases, but Marquis escaped without any further damage by striking out Lowe.

"As unique as everyone was, they came together as a ballclub," said Francona. "Nobody did anything different. They did it as a ballclub."

The three runs were all Lowe needed as he set down a stretch of 13 straight batters at one point before surrendering a one-out double to Renteria in the fifth inning. After throwing a wild pitch to move Renteria to third, Lowe then settled down and got of the inning unharmed as he struck out John Mabry and induced Yadier Molina into a weak grounder.

Damon tripled with two outs in the sixth, but Boston could not add to its lead as Orlando Cabrera flied out to end the inning.

The Red Sox had another chance to put the game out of reach in the eighth, but again left runners stranded. Mueller led off with a single and took third when Nixon doubled down the right field line. Nixon, who was lifted for Gabe Kapler as a pinch-runner, doubled three times in the game.

Jason Isringhausen then relieved Dan Haren and walked Bellhorn to load the bases. Pokey Reese came on to run for Bellhorn and Kevin Millar, who pinch-hit for Lowe, struck out for the first out. Damon then grounded to first and Pujols, who had to go deep into the hole to make a play, threw it home and got Mueller for the second out. Isringhausen was then able to get out of the jam without any damage as he worked back from a 3-0 count to strike out Cabrera.

Bronson Arroyo entered the game in the eighth for Boston and allowed a one-out single to Sanders, which chased him from the game and brought on Alan Embree. Sanders immediately stole second, but Embree struck out pinch-hitter Hector Luna for the second out. Larry Walker then stepped to the plate, but Embree induced him into a shallow fly ball to short to end the inning.

"They outplayed us in every category, so it ended up not being a terrific competition," La Russa said. "We were ready to play. We didn't play good enough."

Keith Foulke was summoned for the ninth inning and had to face St. Louis' 3-4-5 hitters. Pujols led off with a single up the middle, but Rolen flied out to shallow right for the first out. Foulke then struck out Edmonds for the second out and he finished the game by getting Renteria to ground out back to the mound. It was Foulke's first save of the series.

Game Notes:

Boston, which won the World Series for the first time with a sweep, also won the title in 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916 and the aforementioned 1918. It was the third time since 1903 that the Red Sox swept a playoff series as they also did it in the 1975 ALCS against Oakland and in this year's ALDS against the Angels...Damon's homer was the 17th leadoff homer in World Series history and the first since Jeter accomplished the feat in Game 4 of the 2000 Fall Classic...This was the third straight year that a wild card winner won the World Series as Anaheim won in 2002 and the Florida Marlins won last year...The Red Sox are just the fourth team in World Series history to never trail in the entire set...The 1998 Yankees, 1995 Atlanta Braves and the 1976 Cincinnati Reds all won seven straight playoff games in one season...This game was 18 years to the day that Boston lost the seventh game of the 1986 World Series to the New York Mets...St. Louis lost the World Series in seven games to Minnesota in 1987 and Kansas City in seven in 1985. The Cardinals last won a world championship in 1982...Marquis, who was the first St. Louis starter to pitch into the sixth inning during the series, fell to 0-2 in five career outings (three starts) against Boston...St. Louis lost its final two home games and ended 6-2 at Busch Stadium in the playoffs...This marked the 18th sweep in World Series history...Prior to the game, Ramirez and Barry Bonds were named the winners of the Hank Aaron Award that goes to the top offensive player in each league.