ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Eckstein Chronicles, shortstop edition.

When David Eckstein first arrived at the Angels' Spring Training camp in Tempe, Arizona, the common question was, "Where is he?" At 5-foot-8, 170 pounds, he was easy to misplace.

Then, when second baseman Adam Kennedy suffered a fractured finger early in the exhibition schedule and Eckstein began to make regular lineup appearances, the question become, "Who is he?"

Now, only a month later and with Kennedy back, the Eckstein question has become, "Where can we play him?"

When the Angels meet Seattle this afternoon in the finale of their three-game series, the question may again be "Where is he?" But in a totally different context, as in "How can they not play this guy?"

That quickly, Eckstein has apparently made himself indispensable to the Angels, throwing manager Mike Scioscia into a quandary since he isn't about to tinker with the playing time of someone (Kennedy) who gave him an ironman-like 156 games at second in 2000.

First base coach Alfredo Griffin first suggested the answer to that latest question: "How about shortstop?"

Griffin, who played 18 seasons in the Majors and won a Gold Glove at shortstop in 1985 with the Oakland A's, first approached Scioscia with that idea during the last week of the Cactus League. Immediately, Eckstein began drifting across to the other side of the bag for a few innings now and then.

It was the first time he had seen any significant action at shortstop in three years, since he was playing Single-A ball at Sarasota in the Boston organization.

"I played about 20 games there that year," Eckstein says. "Before that, I'd played short in 1995, after my freshman year in college, and a little bit there my sophomore year in high school.

"I'm just going out there, trying to do whatever it takes."

In his first start at short Saturday night, Eckstein did it all, giving people new reasons to shake their heads admiringly.

"You can all see what Alfredo Griffin was talking about when he said this guy could play shortstop for us," Scioscia said. "This guy made the plays.

"He showed good range. Even though everyone looks at his arm and questions whether it's strong enough, his release is excellent and he gets great carry on the ball. He has a very accurate arm with a good release, and he got some fast runners."

Eckstein's opening night at short actually was relatively quiet. He was called on to make only four plays, and handled them flawlessly. Most significantly, Eckstein twice threw out Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle's left-handed hitting import who loves to slap the ball at short and is a blur running down the line.

In the locker room after the game, the first to walk up to Eckstein with an extended hand was Kennedy. He punctuated "nice job" with a pat on the back. The two have grown close, spending endless hours fielding grounders, and this latest development offers the chance to grow their relationship from friends to partners -- as in double-play partners.