Major difference

ST. LOUIS -- It's no mystery to Brendan Ryan why he's been a much better hitter with the St. Louis Cardinals than in the minor leagues.

The rookie middle infielder has pushed his way into regular playing time at three positions on a team that's back in the hunt for another postseason appearance. Ryan, 25, was batting .348 with four home runs in 89 at-bats, impressive numbers with surprising power given his .272 average with only one homer in 323 at-bats for Class AAA Memphis.

"It's been fun," Ryan said. "I'm filling the resume."

Ryan cites the adrenaline factor involved with playing on a surging team in front of nightly sellout crowds. There's also the likelihood of seeing better pitches to hit in a lineup stacked with Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. And there's all of those plush new stadiums.

Nothing like the minors. It's safe to say Ryan, who's in his third stint with the Cardinals, never wants to go back.

"Triple-A is a really tough place to play," Ryan said. "The travel is terrible and you play somewhere like Nashville that's not even fair. They've got like beer-league lights -- a softball field is better-lit."

Ryan was no fan of the constant shadows in Salt Lake City, either.

"You have some real nice ones, too," Ryan said. "Ours is top of the line, and Round Rock, that's a real nice place. But some of those places are just average killers."

Ryan was the leadoff hitter at Memphis, altering his role with the added responsibility of taking a lot of pitches. He's hit first twice with the Cardinals, getting the bulk of playing time at the bottom of the lineup.

Whatever the reason, the Cardinals have been pleased with Ryan's emergence. He could be the starting shortstop next season if the team decides to let David Eckstein leave as a free agent.

"He never looked like a rookie," teammate Jim Edmonds said. "He's been saving us."

Ryan has four starts at third base when sore-shouldered Rolen gets a day off, has eight starts at shortstop and 12 at second base.

"He's a talented guy," manager Tony La Russa said of Ryan, a seventh-round draft pick in the 2003 draft. "He's just a really good player."

La Russa doesn't want Ryan looking ahead, though.

"In the back of his mind, what he ought to be playing for is to help the team he's playing for win as many games as it can," La Russa said. "That clears away a lot of the distractions and the garbage."

Distractions are not good for Ryan, who was diagnosed with ADHD in high school and said his younger, supercharged years were like having "coffee running through my veins."

"In high school, my goodness, it was nonstop, never tired, never needing sleep," Ryan said. "If I'm excited about something, there's no stopping me."

He took medication for a short time but not for the last several years, preferring to experience the game he loves with his mind clear and remembering being far too stoic about life in general after taking his daily dose.

Ryan recalls pretending to take his pills on the car ride to school, flipping them behind him in the backseat. He declined a pair of sunglasses after losing a pop fly in the sun earlier in the season, placing them atop his hat.

"I don't want to wear sunglasses because the ball looks different, I don't want to take a pill and feel different," Ryan said. "I want to be just natural."

He's definitely his own man. Ryan still wears his stirrups high, like Cardinals minor leaguers are required to do, and has a pair of game socks with individual toes supplied by teammate So Taguchi.

"They're comfy," Ryan said.

Wearing jersey No. 13 doesn't bother him, although he confesses to being superstitious. But Edmonds suggested it, so that was that.

"It's the last number I'd see myself wearing," said Ryan, who wore No. 75 in spring training. "Jimmy said 'I think 13 suits your personality."'