BOSTON – Tim Wakefield laughed. Nervously.

The subject: pitching to the St. Louis Cardinals lineup. What pitcher wouldn’t be nervous?

Wakefield, Boston’s starter for Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday night, was asked Friday if he could break down the Cardinals’ lineup, the most potent in the National League this season.

“Uh no, unfortunately,” he said, adding the little laugh. “They’ve got a tough lineup. You’ve got speed at the top; you’ve got dangerous guys in the middle. It’s a lot like our lineup, too. It’s one of those lineups you have to be very careful with because they can do a lot of damage quick.”

The Cardinals demonstrated that over and over all year. Then they re-emphasized the point during the playoffs.

Just consider their final three wins of the NL Championship Series:

Game 2: Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen hit back-to-back home runs off Houston’s Dan Miceli in the eighth inning to give the Cardinals a 6-4 victory.

Game 6: Jim Edmonds hit a one-out, two-run, game-winning homer in the 12th inning.

Game 7: Pujols doubled against Roger Clemens with two outs in the sixth to tie the score. Rolen followed with another homer.

By the end of the NLCS, Houston manager Phil Garner was completely perplexed. And that was without even mentioning the likes of savvy situational hitter Edgar Renteria or late-season acquisition Larry Walker.

“What makes the lineup so tough is there are other guys that can beat you, too (besides Pujols),” Garner said. “We felt like Rolen was starting to swing the bat well. We were concerned about that. We thought we could make some pitches on Albert to get him out. Truth of the matter is, though, he came up with a big hit. And we were right about Rolen, too; he was swinging the bat pretty well.”

The Cardinals present an unusual problem for their opponents. They are an NL team that produces runs like an AL club. It’s been more than a decade – since Philadelphia in 1993 – that an NL club entered the World Series having scored more runs than the Cardinals did this season. They had 855. Philadelphia, which lost to Toronto in a six-game slugfest, scored 877.

“They do remind me of our lineup, and I wish they didn’t,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “I like our lineup a lot, and they are a very potent group. When you are hitting Larry Walker second, you’ve got some sock in that lineup. They are pretty thick like we are, and they are pretty dangerous.”

The core of the St. Louis lineup is where it is most dangerous. From Pujols at No. 3, to Rolen at No. 4 and finishing with Edmonds at No. 5, it is like walking barefoot over white-hot coals. The trio combined for 122 homers and 358 RBI. Each of them hit at least .300 with 34 homers and 110 RBIs.

“Albert said (Thursday) that it’s a team full of MVPs,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “I like that. I hesitate to brag on those three guys’ offense, where our strength is that we have eight guys that take really good at-bats. And in the AL park (where they’ll have a DH), we’ll have nine.”

That’s just the kind of thing to bring about a little more nervous laughter.