After Hammers had hit four past fellow promotion hopefuls Wigan Athletic in their last outing at the Boleyn Ground, all the pre-match build-up centred around the hope that a similar scoreline would be on the cards against a team who had lost their previous eight matches away from home.
Sadly, though, the prediction didn't go to plan and a 24,365 crowd were left stunned as Frazer Richardson's 33rd minute goal was enough to secure all three points for Tony Pulis' men.
Pardew had name an unchanged line-up and formation following the weekend's draw up at The Hawthorns, with Robbie Stockdale and Wayne Quinn continuing as wing-backs and David Connolly as a withdrawn striker behind the front two of Marlon Harewood and Brian Deane.
Early on, though, it was clear that Hammers were going to struggle against their enthusiastic opponents, who used their numerical advantage in midfield to push the hosts on the back foot, forcing the back three of Pearce, Repka and Dailly to resort too often to hopeful long punts forward that Deane and Harewood struggled to win.
It took until the 27th minute for Hammers to register their first effort on goal - a Pearce header from Quinn's corner that was deflected on to the roof of the net. A few minutes later, Connolly fired in a free-kick that crashed off the outside of the post - but that was to be the closest Pardew's men came all night.
Just moments after Connolly's near-miss, the visitors took the lead. Ade Akinbiyi's powerful run saw him turn Pearce before firing in a shot that was blocked by Dailly - only for the ball to run into the path of the onrushing Richardson, who calmly stroked the ball under James to the delight of the few hundred or so travelling fans.
Pardew unsurprisingly changed things at the interval, bringing off Tomas Repka and adding Kevin Horlock to the midfield in a more familiar 4-3-3 formation that saw Stockdale and Quinn revert to their regular full-back roles and allowed Connolly to push further forward.
With Stoke growing in confidence and the home fans growing in frustration, though, Hammers found it hard to make the breakthrough and wasted possession too easily, too often. Hutchison was introduced in place of Deane to add a bit more guile to the attack but as the game wore on it was the visitors who enjoyed the better chances in front of goal.
Their lead should really have been doubled in the 67th minute when substitute Carl Asaba raced at the Hammers defence but the striker opted not to send the unmarked Richardson clear on goal and the chance went begging.
With nine minutes remaining, they went even closer as midfielder Eustace strode forward and unleashed a dipping, 25-yard volley that beat James but clipped the top of the crossbar.
At the other end, the best Hammers could muster was a 20-yard effort from Hutchison that goalkeeper Ed de Goey held comfortably, and Pardew and his players were jeered off to a chorus of boos at the final whistle as the reality of this shocking performance hit home.
Hammers have a chance to bounce back against Sunderland at home on Saturday, when the return of Jermain Defoe will hopefully provide a big boost, but it will need a marked improvement from the entire team to get the Upton Park faithful behind them again.