ST. LOUIS -- There was a time in mid-September when Jim Edmonds wondered if he would play in another baseball game this year. The St. Louis Cardinals' veteran center fielder was suffering the effects of post-concussion syndrome, a result of the thing for which he is best known: Diving, jarring catches that regularly make the highlight reels. He was left behind on a trip to Milwaukee and Houston, out of fear that airplane travel would worsen his condition.

"I knew it wasn't going to be something that lasted forever, but I was just more concerned about not being able to finish the season at all," recalled Edmonds, who played in only 110 games, his lowest total since 1994 with the then-California Angels.

"We were struggling at the end so I didn't know if we were going to make the playoffs or how far we were going to go. I just wanted a chance to get back on the field."

Edmonds, 36, finally got some at-bats in the final series of the season against the Brewers and proved that the concussion syndrome -- a condition that shelved Milwaukee's Corey Koskie for the entire second half -- was behind him. It didn't help that he also had to play with an ailing shoulder and foot, the latter problem requiring daily pain injections. Despite those maladies, Edmonds emerged as one of the few dependable run producers for the Cardinals in the postseason. In the team's first 14 games, he was batting .295 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.

Edmonds has been particularly productive in a pitching-dominated World Series in which both teams batted below .200 collectively in the first three games. He was batting .444 (4 for 9) with four RBI, including a two-run double that propelled St. Louis to a 5-0 victory against Detroit in Game 3.

"He's got that quality where, the bigger the moment, the more likely he's going to concentrate, not get distracted, and produce," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He's done that ever since he's been here from 2000. He really is a prime-time guy.

"When you consider how he finished the season, sore, not playing much, there's no reason for him to have this kind of [performance]. He's just very talented. Nobody on either club is having better at-bats. In moments like this, he just concentrates better than ever."

That focus has helped Edmonds forget his ailing shoulder and foot, at least during the three hours or so he is on the field. Asked to describe his physical condition at present, Edmonds laughed.

"I'd have to lie," he said.

Edmonds' two-run double in the fourth inning of Game 3 was noteworthy because it came off a left-hander, Nate Robertson. The left-handed-hitting Edmonds, who held his own against lefties in past years, batted only .156 against them this season.

La Russa offered a logical explanation for those difficulties.

"Over his career, he has been a tough hitter against right-handers, too.

"That's just something that I've been able to do and I've been lucky enough to be in the postseason enough to get some practice at it," Edmonds said. "I just think that when you play in the postseason, you have to focus a little bit stronger and stay calm, stay under control."