Martinez Stays Red Hot, Again Burns Angels : Baseball: Mariner designated hitter homers, singles, walks twice and becomes first this season to get 50 RBIs in 7-3 victory.

The small blue sign hanging from the Kingdome’s second deck Monday night read simply: Edgar esta caliente. It was once again an understatement in any language.

Seattle designated hitter Edgar Martinez continued his hot hitting, terrorizing Angel pitchers for the fourth consecutive game in the Mariners’ 7-3 victory.

With Ken Griffey Jr. sidelined because of a broken wrist until at least the middle of August, Mariner fans have heaped their adoration on Martinez. But don’t look for Martinez in any commercials or on the cover of national magazines.

Martinez might well be the best player no one knows outside the Seattle area.

Manager Marcel Lachemann on Sunday threatened in jest to have his pitchers throw the rosin bag instead of the baseball when Martinez came to bat.

Over the course of the four games at Seattle, Angel pitchers might have been better off simply throwing four pitches in the dirt and taking their chances with Martinez at first base.

The chore of slowing Martinez on Monday fell to Brian Anderson, but he fared no better than anyone else.

Martinez homered, singled, walked twice and scored two runs and became the first major leaguer to drive in 50 runs this season. By game’s end, Martinez had raised his American League-leading batting average to .376. He reached base nine consecutive times over the course of Sunday and Monday.

Finally, after the announced crowd of 18,126 gave him a standing ovation, he flied out to end the eighth.

Martinez’s series totals consisted of nine hits, including two homers and five doubles, four walks, six runs batted in and six runs scored.

“He’s just in one of those grooves the good ones get into and it’s hard to get them out of it,” said Anderson, 1-1. “What you have to do is go after him with everything, including the kitchen sink. You can’t go up there with a certain pattern.”

Said Lachemann: “He’s an awfully good hitter, period, and on top of that he’s hot.”

The Angels had a 1-0 lead after Tony Phillips led off the game with his 10th homer of the season. They seemed to have Seattle starter Salomon Torres teetering in the first inning.

But Torres managed to get out of the inning without giving up another run. The Mariners countered with Martinez’s run-scoring single in the first and Luis Sojo’s bases-empty homer in the second.

In the third, Tino Martinez hit a three-run homer into the right-field stands, pushing Seattle’s lead to 5-1. Phillips’ run-scoring groundout brought the Angels to within 5-2 in the top of the fifth.

Edgar Martinez hit the first pitch Anderson threw him in the bottom of the fifth an estimated 425 feet, barely missing the second deck in left field.

After a walk to Mike Blowers, who later scored on a groundout, Lachemann replaced Anderson with Russ Springer. The Angels trailed, 7-2, by then.

Anderson was less than overpowering in his second start since returning from the disabled list because of a strained left biceps, suffered May 5 against Seattle.

He struggled right from the start Monday.

He retired the Mariners in order only in the fourth inning and gave up eight hits and seven runs with two strikeouts and two walks in 4 1/3 innings.

“He made several bad pitches tonight and they made him pay for it,” Lachemann said. “He didn’t locate the ball well tonight and, to their credit, they didn’t let him get away with it.”