Edited sentence: A home run by Johnny Damon in the first inning won Game 4 for the Red Sox to secure the series.A home run by Mark Bellhorn helped the Red Sox to victory in Game 1.Manny Ramírez was named the series Most Valuable Player (MVP).The Cardinals did not lead in any of the games in the series.The Cardinals earned their berth in the play-offs by winning the National League Central, and had the best win–loss record in the National League.The Cardinals made their first trip to the World Series since 1987.The Cardinals reached the World Series by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-five National League Division Series, and the Houston Astros in the best-of-seven Championship Series (NLCS).The Red Sox defeated the Anaheim Angels in the American League Division Series and the New York Yankees in the Championship Series (ALCS), to advance to their first World Series since 1986.The Red Sox won Game 3, aided by seven shutout innings (innings in which no runs are scored) by Pedro Martínez.The Red Sox won the American League wild card to earn their berth.The Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918, which ended the so-called Curse of the Bambino, a curse that was supposedly inflicted on the team when Babe Ruth left for the Yankees in 1919.The Red Sox won the first two games despite committing four errors in each of them.They won Game 2 thanks to six innings pitched by starter Curt Schilling, where he allowed just one run.When these teams returned to the World Series, the Cardinals in 2006 and the Red Sox in 2007, both won their respective series