Iron Man Martin to Catch Haeger

Russell Martin will not only catch tonight, but will catch tomorrow as well, meaning he will have caught every game of the 10-game homestand, as well as a stretch of 14 games caught in 16 days.  He will get a day off Monday or Tuesday in Arizona. Originally Martin was given the choice of today or tomorrow off, and he chose to catch Clayton Kershaw Sunday.  However, Martin convinced his manager to catch tonight as well. 

Correction: the choice to catch Kershaw or Haeger was presented to Martin during the last road trip, not for this weekend.  But the fact still remains that Martin is in the midst of catching a long stretch of consecutive games

I asked Joe Torre how a player could convince him to stay in the lineup, especially given that players aren't always open about how hurt they are, and Torre answered:

It's just what I see.  There are times I won't ask Russell.  If I'm just going to rest Russell, I rest him, and that's it.  The only time I confer with him is if I'm leaning that way but not really sure.  He can try to talk me out of it, but I can usually tell by some the answers, and how they answer, even if they say 'I'm OK,' by the way they say it.  I had trouble with [Derek] Jeter for the longest time until I finally set on a way to do it, saying, 'Do you want tomorrow or the next day [off]?'   It's usually just because you know them, but also based on what you see.

Martin is third in the National League with 217 2/3 innings caught this season.

As Charlie Haeger, who has allowed 37 baserunners in 17 1/3 innings since his first start of the season, fights to stay in the rotation against the Rockies, here are some pregame notes from Torre:

• Tuesday's starting pitcher will be announced tomorrow, although Carlos Monasterios appears to be in line to get that call.  Dan Haren is scheduled to pitch for Arizona.
  
• For the remaining week that Rafael Furcal is on the disabled list (he is due back Friday), leadoff duties are expected to be shared between Russell Martin and Jamey Carroll
• Asked if Manny Ramirez would play all nine innings in left field tonight, Torre said he hopes so, and that this isn't spring training.  Torre also said Manny is expected to play tomorrow as well
• Casey Blake will likely get a day off tomorrow
• Ramon Troncoso is available tonight, after throwing 27 pitches in two innings last night.  Torre looked around after answering this question and joked he could use Troncoso since LA Times beat writer Dylan Hernandez is not here tonight, a sly reference to the ever-popular #DrNealElAttrache tag on Twitter.

Lineups

Xeifrank's simulation of today's game is here.

Game Time: 7:10pm

TV: Prime Ticket

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