With no designated hitter allowed in the National League ballpark, David Ortiz played first base so the Red Sox could keep his powerful bat in the lineup. That left Millar on the bench, where the colorful slugger was bound to keep his teammates laughing all night.

Home plate umpire Brian Gorman watches as Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek reaches to tag out St. Louis' Larry Walker to end the first inning. (AP photo) • Photo gallery • Interactive multimedia • AP World Series coverage

"He's such a smart aleck," manager Terry Francona said. "He'll have a bag of snacks ... I mean, the couple of games in interleague this summer when he didn't play, Atlanta, he looked like - remember Leave it to Beaver? - he looked like Larry Mondello. I thought about putting him in, but he had a stomach ache."

The Red Sox might miss Millar's bat, but they love the entertainment he provides.

"When he didn't play, he said things that made me laugh when I didn't want to laugh," Francona said. "You'll hear that voice down at the end of the dugout and it's hard not to laugh. He's a character. He's good for our ballclub."

PAINT THE TOWN RED: Here's one World Series stunt that didn't last long.

A Boston Red Sox fan who lives in St. Louis visited Busch Stadium on Monday and placed red socks on the statues of Cardinals greats outside the ballpark.

Just minutes later, Robert Kennedy, a Cardinals fan from Cahokia, Ill., happened to be passing by. He immediately removed the socks, using them to polish up the statues before he tossed them in the trash can. "It's all in good fun," Kennedy said.

LOVABLE LOSERS: Call it the cursed series. Or the Bambino vs. the Billy Goat.

The Boston Red Sox will visit the Chicago Cubs for a three-game series June 10-12 next season, the teams' first meeting since the 1918 World Series. As Red Sox Nation knows all too well, that was the last time Boston won a World Series.

It also will be Boston's first trip to Wrigley Field. The Cubs' home games in the 1918 World Series were played across town at old Comiskey Park, because that ballpark was bigger.

STATUS QUO: Cardinals manager Tony La Russa went with the same lineup as Game 2, leaving Tony Womack in the seventh slot instead of leadoff for the fourth straight game.

Now, La Russa is worried more about matchups than Womack's aching back.

Womack and No. 2 batter Larry Walker are left-handed hitters, and La Russa thought the Red Sox might be able to exploit that with lefty relievers Mike Myers and Alan Embree.

"I'd just as soon not back up two left-handers with their bullpen," La Russa said.

TACO TARGET: Taco Bell pledged that everyone in the United States would get a free taco if a home run during Game 3 hit a 12-foot-by-12-foot target the restaurant group hung in Busch Stadium's left-center field, 420 feet from home plate.

Of the 170 homers hit in the ballpark this season, nearly a quarter of them landed in the target area, Taco Bell said.

If a home run were to hit the target, Taco Bell planned to make good on its giveaway during a three-hour span Nov. 9.

KLINE'S INJURY: Cardinals reliever Steve Kline, left off the World Series roster due to a partially torn tendon in his left index finger, is scheduled to visit a surgeon this morning to schedule an operation.

Kline said he will be sidelined between six weeks and four months, depending on the severity of the injury.

HOME FIELD: Ray King, the Cardinals' player representative, said in the future he would vote against giving home-field advantage in the World Series to the league that wins the All-Star Game.

Boston has home-field advantage in the World Series even though St. Louis finished with the best record in the majors.

"I don't think that's fair," King said. "You're fighting all year long to have the best record, and now you're playing a wild-card team that finished second."

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