Ed Spiezio played for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1964 and '67 World Series. And a few years later, he began preparing his son for the 2002 World Series.

"He basically has been preparing me my whole life for this moment," Angels first baseman Scott Spiezio said after driving in three runs in Game 3 of the World Series. "We had drills that we would do. He would pitch me batting practice every day and we would always end it with a situation where I would be in the World Series.

	The Senior Spiezio
	Ed Spiezio played for four teams in parts of nine seasons in the major leagues (1964-72). The right-handed hitting third baseman/outfielder hit a career-best 13 homers in 121 games for San Diego in 1969.
	CAREER STATISTICS GM AB H HR RBI Avg. 554 1544 367 39 174 .238 Complete statistics

"I think that's probably the reason I feel comfortable here, because I've done that in my head so many times as I grew up, from age three until probably a couple years ago."

Evidently, something is working. Spiezio is hitting .372 with a team-leading 16 RBI this postseason. He tripled home two runs in the third and singled in another run in the fourth Tuesday night.

Spiezio said it was always his father's plan that Scott would eventually follow him into the major leagues. There were two pitchers mounds in the family's backyard, one that was regulation distance from home plate, the other closer to better train Scott for hitting hard fastballs. Inside the house was a workout area for practicing during the winter. "We went at it all year."

Not that Spiezio ever resisted his father's urging.

"I would always get mad in school when they would give those tests that would tell you what your career should be and they would never say I should be a baseball player," he said. "That's all I wanted to be."

He does, however, have a strong interest in music and is the lead singer of the metal band Sandfrog.

"What do I think of his music? Ummmmm, I'm pulling for him," teammate Tim Salmon said. "I love music and rock and everything but he's in that genre that I'm not really into that much. But I'm pulling for him."

"I really enjoy music and I put a lot of time into it, but the time is all about feeling good," Spiezio said. "I wouldn't sit there and play until my hands bled like I would with baseball."

Which gives you an idea of how seriously Spiezio takes baseball and how long and hard he's worked at it.

Spiezio learned to switch-hit when he was 3. That's when the World Series drills began as well. Scott would step into the left batter's box and Ed would shout, "This is the seventh game of the World Series, the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two out and you're down by a run."

And then Spiezio would repeat the drill while batting right-handed.

"Sometimes he would imitate pitchers," Speizio said. "He would be Kent Tekulve and throw from the side. He was right-handed so he couldn't imitate left-handed pitchers but he would throw screwballs, trying to imitate their curveball. I think he thought it was a little better pitch than it really was.

"He would have me do every situation. Hit-and-run, bunting, sacrifice bunts, drag bunts. Everything."

Ed Spiezio's career was virtually over by age 30. His son's is just beginning to bloom at the same age. He hit .285 with 82 RBI this season, both career highs.

"I feel like I'm starting to mature as a hitter and apply things that I've learned to my game."

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at cuffscaple@hotmail.com.