Fall for St. Louis - Classic for Boston - NYTimes.com David Ortiz scoring on Mike Napoli's three-run double in the first inning. Ortiz, who later homered, finished 2 for 3 with three runs batted in. BOSTON - Getting to this, baseball's biggest stage, had never been the Boston Red Sox" strong suit. Generations passed without World Series appearances. Seasons were too often marred by misfortune, blunders, collapses; promise was unfulfilled, and hopes were annually dashed. The team won titles in 2004 and 2007, of course, but success has been so coveted that the Red Sox still greet the World Series with what seems like an unquenchable thirst. It was palpable in Fenway Park on Wednesday night, all that coiled aggression, and the Red Sox took less than an inning to unleash it. With five runs in the first two innings, and with the help of multiple defensive miscues by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Red Sox steamrollered to an 8-1 win in Game 1 in front of a capacity crowd. It was their ninth straight victory in World Series games, dating to 2004, a streak during which the Red Sox have barely even trailed. "Regardless of who's on the roster," Manager John Farrell said, "we're more than prepared to play." The Red Sox flipped the calendar back to 2007 - or maybe more like 2004, when they swept St. Louis as their Cowboy Up crew of misfits and mangy stars banded together in a memorable October run. Only one Red Sox player remains from that team (David Ortiz), but the ingredients are echoed in this year's roster - with the team's play as well as its members" beards. Wednesday was the ninth anniversary of the beginning of that series, and in the lead-up to the game, figures like Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Kevin Millar and Keith Foulke were around, in roles with the news media or just lingering. Boston trotted out other celebrated players from its history, too, like the Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, who threw out the first pitch, and the former pitcher Luis Tiant, who delivered the game ball. But as gloomy gray skies gave way to a brisk and hazy night, the Red Sox needed no help from their past. From the start, they put pressure on St. Louis's ace, Adam Wainwright, who walked the leadoff hitter, Jacoby Ellsbury, on seven pitches. Two batters later, after Dustin Pedroia had singled, Ortiz grounded to second baseman Matt Carpenter, who flipped to shortstop Pete Kozma. Although Kozma mishandled the ball, Pedroia was initially ruled out at second as the umpire Dana DeMuth thought the drop occurred during Kozma's attempt to turn a double play. Farrell immediately sprinted out of the dugout to contest the call, and replays clearly showed Kozma never had a handle on the ball. The umpires convened and overturned the call. "I thought from the dugout it was pretty clear that that ball just tipped off the fingertips of his glove," Farrell said. DeMuth told a pool reporter, "I stayed with the foot too long is how I ended up getting in trouble." After the call was changed, Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny also went out to argue. He said he had never seen a call like that reversed. "It's a pretty tough time to debut that overruled call in the World Series," Matheny said. Tough one to swallow. The swing in fortune was compounded by the next batter, Mike Napoli, who lashed a double to left-center. All three on base came around to score, even Ortiz, who thundered home as center fielder Shane Robinson momentarily bobbled the ball. Napoli stood on second pumping his fists, and the Red Sox had a 3-0 lead. "A lot of things went right for us, but we've got to take advantage of those opportunities," Napoli said. And we did. The early lead made for a comforting feeling for the Red Sox, who scored four runs in the first inning of Game 1 in the 2004 World Series and three runs in the opening frame of the 2007 Series, against Colorado, setting the tone early in two eventual sweeps. Wainwright, on the other hand, needed 31 pitches to get out of the first inning, two hits, one walk and one critical error later. The Cardinals" defensive struggles only worsened. In the second, Stephen Drew hit a pop-up just short of the mound. But it dropped between Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, who looked blankly at each other, their stares signaling, "Who, me?"