ST. LOUIS – Somebody get the Cardinals a copy of Baserunning for Dummies. Quickly.

The day before the World Series, Cards manager Tony La Russa said, “We run the bases better than any club I’ve ever had, and that’s won some extra games.”

Last night, the Cards’ base-running helped them lose one.

“I think we wasted away three runs at least,” rightfielder Larry Walker said.

Start with the first inning when the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out for Jim Edmonds. The centerfielder lofted a shallow fly ball to Manny Ramirez in left, far too shallow for Walker, the runner on third, to tag up.

But once Ramirez caught the ball, Walker astonishingly broke for home. Ramirez threw a strike, and Walker was out by three steps, completing a stunning inning-ending double play.

Cards’ third base coach Jose Oquendo initially told Walker to only go halfway. But Walker saw Albert Pujols, the runner on second, going to third, and he said that was the main reason why he broke for home.

Asked how much of his decision had to do with Pujols, Walker said, “All of it, really. I didn’t know what to do. I saw Albert run. I just took off to see if I had a shot at going home.”

Said Pujols of the play, “That was good base-running by [Walker].”

As bad as that trip on the bases was for the Cards, though, it would be completely trumped two innings later.

In the third, the Cards put runners on second and third with nobody out as Busch Stadium braced for a breakthrough against Pedro Martinez. Instead, the Cards proceeded to let Martinez totally off the hook.

With pitcher Jeff Suppan on third, Walker banged a grounder to second baseman Mark Bellhorn. For any Little Leaguers out there, you might want to avert your eyes from the rest of this story. The Sox had the infield back, clearly conceding a run. But once the ball was hit, Suppan didn’t go home, inexplicably turning back to third.

“As soon as the ball was hit, he froze,” Oquendo said. “I started yelling, ‘Go!’ I think he thought I was yelling something else.”

Oquendo began frantically waving at Suppan to go home, so the pitcher started for the plate. But he abruptly turned back, and Sox first baseman David Ortiz nailed him at third for a staggering double play.

“I don’t really know how to describe it,” Suppan said. “I screwed up, period.”