Tom

Martin

Martin, a lefthander, was brought into a two-on, no-out jam last night to face lefties Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley, and Mark Grace. He helped preserve the shutout with his work. Martin won’t have any fantasy value but could be important to the Dodgers’ chances.

Martin, who came in having allowed just one run in 12 2/3 innings, failed to retire any of the four batters he faced (one hit batsman followed by two singles and a double). Fortunately, the Dodgers offense bailed out the bullpen for a switch. Martin had been pitching over his head, but as there’s really no reason to own Martin, this performance shouldn’t have hurt anyone except Kevin Brown owners who missed out on a win.

Manager Jim Tracy doesn’t expect Martin to be sidelined for long.

Martin had a 3.53 ERA as the top lefty in the Los Angeles bullpen last season.

Clearly, someone forgot to tell the Dodgers that salaries are supposed to be shrinking. Maybe Dan Evans, who is rumored to be out of a job after the Dodgers’ new ownership gets approved, is just trying to leave Billy Beane in as bad of a situation as possible. We’ll know for sure if his next move is to sign Lenny Harris to a five-year deal.

Martin made the Rays out of spring training last year, but he went down with a shoulder injury in mid-April. He’ll probably begin this year at Triple-A Las Vegas.

Martin had been out with back spasms.

Martin was better than it looked like he might be during spring training, but his 4.92 ERA in 25 2/3 innings wasn’t good enough to keep him around. Matt Herges was picked over him for now, but he still might be demoted when Brian Fuentes comes off the DL.

Myers had a 4.80 ERA in 55 1/3 innings out of the pen for the Yankees and White Sox last season. Martin, a former Dodger, didn’t log any major league time in 2007. The two will battle Hong-Chih Kuo and Eric Stults to be the second lefty in the Dodger pen.