ANAHEIM, Calif. -- You know what you're going to get from David Eckstein.

The leadoff man for the Anaheim Angels is going to fight, scrap and dive for every extra base, every ground ball, every inch on his opponent.

He simply has to, because although he's listed at 5-foot-8 in the Anaheim media guide, he's really only about 5-foot-6 1/2.

He was a walk-on at the University of Florida and a castoff from the Boston Red Sox organization. Everything he's earned in the big leagues has come because of ultimate effort.

His teammates call him a pest to other teams, a nuisance whom they'd hate to have to go to battle against.

His manager says he's the kind of player who can be a key component on a championship-caliber club.

On Saturday night, however, Eckstein showed a new wrinkle to his game.

Eckstein lined a one-out, two-strike, bases-loaded Scott Cassidy pitch to left in the bottom of the fifth inning.

He ran as hard as he could with his head down after contact. The ball cleared the short wall, put the Angels up 11-4, and put the Toronto Blue Jays away for the second straight night.

Eckstein said he didn't believe it was gone until he saw the third-base umpire twirling his finger, and why would he believe it?

It was the first grand slam of his life, at any level in baseball. It also tied the ribbon on his first career five-RBI game.

Eckstein's reaction to the sudden power surge?

Don't expect anything like it any time soon.

"I'm not gonna hit a lot of home runs," said Eckstein, who hit four last year, his rookie season.

"Especially with two strikes. It was probably the last possible thing on my mind. All I'm thinking in that situation, really, is just put the ball in play."

First baseman Scott Spiezio, who walked to load the bases and set up Eckstein's moment of glory, said he was happy to put the wheels in motion.

"I didn't want to drive in the runs because then he wouldn't get the chance to hit a grand slam," Spiezio joked.

"Seriously, though, it was a huge lift for an offense that's struggled early."

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said he got a kick out of watching his shortstop launch one into the stratosphere.

"Eck - he surprises you," Scioscia said, laughing. "You're not surprised that he gets hits, because that's what he does, but every once in a while he gets a hold of one, and it seems like every one he hits is on an almost identical flight pattern, two or three rows deep. That's his slot down there."

When asked facetiously if Eckstein's habit of crowding the plate had anything to do with his slam, Scioscia cracked, "Sure. All those good power hitters hang in there."

After Eckstein rounded the bases, he was greeted with an expected barrage of celebration in the dugout.

"I hit home plate and then kept running, but then I saw them waiting for him so I let him go," Spiezio said.

"I got to the top step and they were just crushing him. It was outstanding."

More outstanding to Eckstein was the bottom line, though -- the fact that the Angels have won three games in a row and are starting to play the baseball they said they would when they finished Spring Training.

"With the performances the way they were before this, we just feel like we're getting better," Eckstein said. "We're taking better hacks, and even when we're down in games, we're battling back. That's a major facet of this team."

Spiezio seconded that theory.

"We're getting a little bit of a feel now of how to get it done," Spiezio said.

"Before, it's something we were searching for as an offense. Maybe we're finding it now."