ST. LOUIS – The Boston Red Sox have not forgotten Nomar Garciaparra.

The team voted a full playoff share to its former shortstop, who was traded to the Chicago Cubs in a deal that helped spark Boston’s resurgence this season.

“I voted him to have a full share because he was a big part of us getting to the point we got,” said pitcher Tim Wakefield, the team’s longest-tenured player and its former union representative. “And I think he deserves it.”

The five-time All-Star was one of the best players in Red Sox history, but was hurt by the team’s attempts to trade him for Alex Rodriguez last offseason. When the deal fell through, Garciaparra remained in Boston.

He was sent to Chicago on July 31 for former Gold Glove winners Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. The Red Sox responded with improved defense that led them to the best record in baseball the rest of the way.

New England nemesis

St. Louis teams have been bedeviled by Boston for years.

The last time a pro team from St. Louis made it to the championship round in football, hockey and basketball, it lost to a squad from Boston. The Red Sox were trying to extend that streak to baseball on Wednesday night.

“I’m very, very sick of them. You just want to scream,” said Marianne Sutter, a St. Louis fan who roots for the hometown Cardinals, Rams and Blues. “They’re definitely a thorn in our side.”

The St. Louis Rams were favored by more than two touchdowns against New England in the 2002 Super Bowl, but the Patriots pulled off a 20-17 upset on Adam Vinatieri’s last-second field goal from 48 yards out.

The Boston Bruins swept the Blues in the 1970 Stanley Cup finals, clinching their first title in 29 years when Hall of Fame defenseman Bobby Orr scored in overtime of Game 4. The play was captured in a famous photo of Orr flying through the air after his dramatic goal.

Even when St. Louis had professional basketball, Boston tormented the Gateway City. The St. Louis Hawks faced Bill Russell’s Celtics in the championship series four times from 1957-61. The Hawks’ only title came in 58. A decade later, they moved to Atlanta.

With the baseball season winding down and a lockout keeping the NHL on ice, St. Louis fans will soon turn their full attention to the Rams. Next up on the NFL schedule? The Patriots.

Highly rated

Boston’s 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night received a 15.7 rating and 24 share, the highest for Game 3 of the World Series since the New York Yankees’ 5-2 win over Atlanta in 1996 got a 17.5/28.

In Boston, the game averaged a 54.3/71 and in St. Louis it averaged a 45.5/59.

The first three games averaged a 15.0/25, up 26 percent from the 11.9/21 for last year’s game between Florida and the New York Yankees and the highest since the first three games between Atlanta and the Yankees in 1996 averaged a 15.8/25.

The rating is the percentage of television households tuned to a telecast, and the share is the percentage tuned to a telecast among those households with televisions on at the time.

Silent treatment

Barry Bonds attended Game 4 of the World Series but refused to answer questions about a report that a tape recording alleges he used performance-enhancing drugs last year.

After receiving an award from commissioner Bud Selig and Hank Aaron, Bonds silently walked away as a reporter asked questions. ESPN’s Harold Reynolds, the emcee for the presentation, would not entertain questions and attempted to block a reporter from following Bonds when the San Francisco Giants outfielder walked away after the presentation.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Oct. 16 that it obtained from an anonymous source a 9-minute recording it said was of Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, one of four people charged in a steroid scandal involving a Bay area nutritional supplements firm.

The speaker on the tape is heard saying Bonds used an “undetectable” performance-enhancing drug during the 2003 season and boasting that he would be tipped off up to two weeks before random drug testing, the newspaper said. Bonds has denied taking steroids.

Lineup shuffle

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa put Tony Womack back in the leadoff spot for Game 4. Womack batted seventh the previous four postseason games because of an aching back, then a bruised collarbone.

“I think Tony’s physically, for this time of the year, in good shape,” La Russa said.

The manager altered the bottom half, too, in an effort to jump-start the team’s slumbering offense. Edgar Renteria went from leadoff back to sixth, where he’s more comfortable. John Mabry started in left field and batted seventh in place of slumping Reggie Sanders, 0-for-9 in the World Series. Rookie catcher Yadier Molina, who often caught Game 4 starter Jason Marquis during the regular season, batted eighth in place of Mike Matheny.

“John, he gave us a lift often whether it was left, third or first base,” La Russa said. “I just wanted to make a switch.”

La Russa considered a lineup with Larry Walker hitting cleanup.

“We’re trying to fight to stay alive and I didn’t think today was the kind of day to have some kind of dramatic change,” the manager said.