Martinez Shows Well When Given a Chance

ATLANTA â€”  Sometimes Ramon Martinez seems invisible. He blends into the scenery of the clubhouse and often goes days without playing.

When he has had a shot, however, he has delivered. Filling in for injured Jeff Kent, Martinez drove in runs with singles in the second and fourth innings, then hit his first homer of the season, a three-run blast in the ninth.

Martinez boosted his batting average to .354 and on-base percentage to .426 despite having only 48 at-bats.

“It’s tough, but I know my role,� he said. “It’s the story of my life.�

The secret to producing while playing sporadically? Hard work behind the scenes -- his specialty.

“I have to take extra batting in the cage, extra ground balls and early batting practice every time we have it to stay sharp,� Martinez said.

The Dodgers are 6-2 with him in the starting lineup. He has played first, second, third and shortstop.

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Kent said the injury that has caused him to sit out since the third inning Saturday is to his left hand -- not his wrist, as the Dodgers have said.

“The soreness is between my thumb and index finger, and it also goes to my middle finger,� he said. “My hand slipped off the bat. I sprained it pretty bad.�

Kent took swings with a fungo bat during Monday’s game and said he wasn’t sure whether he would be able to play today. The Dodgers don’t feel pressed to put Kent on the disabled list because they have three other options at second base -- Martinez, Oscar Robles and Willy Aybar.

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The deadline to sign Luke Hochevar is today and it appears it will pass without a deal. The Dodgers and the right-handed pitcher’s agent, Scott Boras, have not talked since spring training.

The Dodgers took Hochevar, the college pitcher of the year in 2005 with Tennessee, with a supplemental first-round pick last June but were unwilling to meet his demand for $4 million.

Boras is convinced another team will pay Hochevar what he wants after he goes back in the draft June 6. He says he believes there is a premium for college players projected to make the major leagues quickly.

“We’ve put that tag on about 12 guys in the 20 years I’ve been in this business, and in every case, the player has turned out the way we thought he would,� Boras said. “I realize this applies to only 1% of players, but we’ve demonstrated that when we put this tag on a player, he excels in the big leagues, and he usually gets here in less than a year, and we felt Luke fell into this class.�

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Manager Grady Little said rookie Matt Kemp would not be in the lineup today despite getting two hits Monday. Andre Ethier will start in left field and Kenny Lofton will be in center.

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Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.