ANAHEIM, Calif. — Angels shortstop David Eckstein already has World Series experience. He played in the College World Series with the University of Florida. One of his teammates was his brother, Rick, who is an assistant coach at Georgia.

David was the starting second baseman and Rick the starting left fielder for the Gators in 1996, when they finished third in the tournament. But they never thought that one day, one of them would be in the real World Series.

"We never talked in terms of World Series. We talked in terms of opportunity," said Rick, who was a bullpen coach for the Minnesota Twins two seasons ago. "I watched those guys every day, and I told David he could play at this level."

Rick, who is 20 months older than David, proudly wore his Angels cap at yesterday's workout and recalled their formative years when they constantly were teased about their height.

"We're basically eye-to-eye, but I think he's got me by a smidge," David said. "Everybody gave us a hard time growing up, being short, being 5-foot-nothin' and 100-nothin' pounds. But my father told us growing up, 'You can't listen to what everybody says. Who cares? It doesn't matter. You control you.' "

Both brothers were walk-ons at Florida, and Rick remembers the day his brother got the news.

"He called me up and he said, 'I made the team today — I got a hat.' He didn't even get a team uniform," Rick said. "He was practicing in gray pants that he brought from home, when the whole team was practicing in white.

"So his walk-on chance wasn't a full-fledged, 'Here you go.' He still had to work and earn his way to make it into a starting position."