The knuckleball was back to doing its thing for Tim Wakefield on Monday night. Just ask catcher Jason Varitek, who felt at times like he was trying to swat elusive bugs on a night he committed three passed balls.

But in a sign of the way things are going for Wakefield of late, not even the resurgence of his signature pitch could lead to a reversal of fortune. For the fifth consecutive start, Wakefield (4-6) suffered a loss.

A combination of the Cardinals' batters finding holes and Wakefield's knuckler being a little too active led to the Red Sox falling on the short end of a 7-1 score in their first game back at Busch Stadium since clinching the World Series here on Oct. 27, 2004. Wakefield is in the throes of an eight-game stretch that has seen him go 2-6 with a 6.94 ERA.

"I felt like I had good stuff," said Wakefield. "I just couldn't catch a break. It's just one of those streaks that happen during the course of the year and unfortunately it's happening to me right now. I'm trying to find positives, it's a little difficult right now."

Not that this loss was all on Wakefield, who allowed seven hits and four earned runs while issuing four walks over 5 2/3 innings. The Sox couldn't establish much of anything against Cardinals right-hander Matt Morris, who improved to 7-0 by going the distance for the 17th time in his career.

"We didn't swing the bats today," said Varitek. "We didn't get the run support [for Wakefield]. Anybody that pitches that late in the game had to throw pretty well. We weren't able to put together multiple [quality] at-bats."

From where Varitek crouched, he thought Wakefield had a pretty mean knuckler.

"Some of them I have no idea how I caught them and I missed a few," Varitek said. "He was able to find some big-time depth. They were able to lay off some balls down at different times. He threw the ball pretty good. They found some holes at the right times."

While there were plenty of storylines coming in -- from the Sox returning to the scene of their greatest triumph and shortstop Edgar Renteria returning to his home of the last six seasons -- Sox manager Terry Francona didn't think any of those subplots entered into the final score.

"I just wanted to win. I did not feel [the emotion] at all," Francona said. "It's so different now than in the postseason. It's just a whole different atmosphere. It's the middle of the season, we're in the grind of the season, it doesn't even feel the same. It's not supposed to."

At the very least, it was a strange night for Renteria. He received a standing ovation his first trip to the plate, doffed his helmet to the crowd and then hit into the first of his two double plays on the night. In the bottom of the eighth, Renteria committed a two-out error on a routine grounder by Morris that led to two unearned runs.

"The first day is hard, it's tough. It was weird," said Renteria. "Today is past. Tomorrow I'll be ready."

The Sox did take a brief lead in the second inning when Manny Ramirez led off with a double, moved to third on a groundout by Trot Nixon and scored on a single up the middle by Varitek. Little did the Sox know it at the time, but they would muster just one hit over the final seven innings.

From there, this contest was mostly about the Cardinals, who pestered Wakefield for three runs in the bottom of the second to go in front for good. Reggie Sanders got things started with a one-out single to right and then stole second. Television replays showed that Renteria might have made the tag in time. The Sox wondered how differently the night might have transpired if they had two outs and nobody on following that sequence.

"I don't like to make excuses, but we had a pretty close call on the first steal and it doesn't go our way and it ends up being three runs instead of two outs with nobody on," said Varitek.

The Cardinals did what good teams do -- they pounced on the opportunity.

Larry Walker raked a single to right, setting up runners at the corners. Abraham Nunez tied it with an RBI single to right. Yadier Molina did the same, scoring Walker to make it 2-1 St. Louis. Then the Cards got aggressive, with Morris laying down a perfect bunt to score Nunez from third.

"The squeeze bunt surprised the heck out of me," said Wakefield.

Sanders again got things started for the Cardinals in the fourth, leading off with a single and moving to second on a passed ball. Nunez walked and the ball squirted away from Varitek, allowing Sanders to steal third. Molina made it 4-1 Cards with a fielder's choice grounder to short.

The Cardinals were causing plenty of havoc with their aggressiveness in a game that certainly had a National League feel to it.

"They're a pretty good club over there," Wakefield said. "They're not afraid to bunt and hit-and-run and steal some bases."

The Sox rely on their thunder, and couldn't get any in this one.

Wakefield again got in trouble in the sixth, hitting Walker and walking Molina. That put David Eckstein in position to drill a two-out, RBI single to right on what wound up being Wakefield's final pitch of the night.

By the time the night was over, that bottom of the second inning was the one thing that stood out.

"They put pressure on you, they have good hitters," Francona said. "That one inning wound up being too much for us. I think Wake's ball was moving all over the place."

Wakefield hopes that the next thing that has strong movement is his luck.