St. Louis ? Make it 43 years and counting for Houston.

Houston’s had major-league baseball longer than any city without playing host to a World Series, and the Astros fell short again this season. Even with homegrown Roger Clemens on the mound in a deciding Game 7.

Scott Rolen blasted a two-run homer off a tiring Clemens in the sixth, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 win over the Astros in the NL championship series Thursday night.

“Winning still to this point never gets old and losing still hurts just the same,” Clemens said. “Especially when you throw your heart out there and expose your heart to everyone out there involved.”

Now that the Boston Red Sox got by the archrival New York Yankees, Houston takes the lead in major-league postseason heartache.

The Astros dropped to 1-8 in games in which they could clinch a playoff series win, with the only victory coming in Game 5 of the division series against Atlanta this season.

By beating the Braves to get out of the first round, the Astros took a baby step forward.

But Houston’s frustrating wait for an NL pennant continues for at least another year. They’ll head into a long winter — a balmy one in Houston, at least — knowing they had plenty of chances to eliminate a team that won a major-league-best 105 games.

“I just told my players that, without question, this is one of the greatest runs in the history of the game,” said Phil Garner, who took over as manager when Jimy Williams was fired at the All-Star break.

Houston's Carlos Beltran slides into third base as the ball eludes St. Louis' Scott Rolen. Beltran tagged from second base on Jeff Bagwell's fly ball and scored on a throwing error by Jim Edmonds on Thursday night in St. Louis.

“It was a fantastic run,” Garner said. “I described our season from midway on as very improbable. I think that’s appropriate.”

This was the closest Houston had been to the World Series since Nolan Ryan left the mound with six outs to go against Philadelphia in the 1980 NLCS. But the Phillies rallied late and won in 10 innings, and Houston has never been the same since.