ST. LOUIS — The march to baseball's ultimate glory was not conventional, not mundane and certainly not relaxing. But why should anyone be surprised?

For these are the Boston Red Sox. Celestially speaking, this franchise has not exactly been Destiny's Darlings, unless you happen to have been born during the Taft Administration. Since 1946, when the team with the best record in baseball lost a painful Game 7 in this very city, the great, sad cries of the Red Sox and their passionate fans have been variations of "Why?" It's been:

"Why me?"

"Why us?"

"Why can't we win one, just one?"

Eleven days ago, baseball life as we know it changed. Why? Who knows? It just did. Emerging from an 0-3 abyss in the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox have rolled off eight straight wins. Three outs —- make that three Mariano Rivera outs — away from a humiliating sweep by the Evil Empire, the Boston Red Sox have put together the most devastating run in the history of post-season baseball, winning the last four games against Yankees and then dispatching the St. Louis Cardinals in an official World Series sweep, the capper being Wednesday night's 3-0 triumph before 53,037 heartbroken fans at Busch Stadium.

Eight straight!

It's ovah!

Red Sox win! Red Sox win! Theeeeeeee Red Sox win!

For 86 years, and especially during the 37 seasons since the 1967 team restored baseball interest in New England, the question has been, "What will Boston do if the Red Sox ever win the World Series?"

We are now about to find out.

Before looking into the cultural and sociological ramifications of all this, let's step back for a minute and remind yourself what this is all about.

It's about baseball.

This is not the Boston Symphony whipping the St. Louis Symphony. This is not about Mass General taking out Barnes Jewish. This is not about chowdah getting the measure of toasted ravioli.

This is about the Boston Red Sox having a better baseball team than the New York Yankees. This is about the Boston Red Sox having a better baseball team than the St. Louis Cardinals. This is about the Boston Red Sox, for the first time since 1918, having the best baseball team in the world.

This about performance on the field.