David Eckstein won't finish in the top five in the MVP voting, and won't finish ahead of teammate Garret Anderson in the balloting. But he clearly is Anaheim's most indispensable player. "He is," says outfielder Darin Erstad, "what makes us tick."

Mike Scioscia says Eckstein "is the smartest player in the league. It's amazing how much he's improved and made himself a good shortstop. He does every little thing well, and he works so hard to make himself better."

One of the striking characteristics of this Angels team is how much certain individual players have improved. Two years ago, most scouts thought Adam Kennedy would never be better than a below-average defender.

"Now," says Scioscia, "he's one of the best defensive second baseman in the league. Adam is also very smart, and he's obsessed with being good defensively. Look at what Scott Spiezio has done to make himself a better right-handed hitter. In spring training, we intended to platoon Scott and Shawn Wooten because Scott couldn't hit right-handed. After all the work he's done with (batting coach) Mickey Hatcher, he's now very good right-handed." Spiezio batted .238 with a .661 OPS against left-handers in 1999-2001. This season he's batting .352 with a .908 OPS through Friday.