WORLD SERIES: ATLANTA BRAVES vs. CLEVELAND INDIANS : BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : WORLD SERIES : Martinez Says He Won’t Push It Tonight

Cleveland pitcher Dennis Martinez, who is scheduled to oppose Atlanta’s Tom Glavine in Game 6 tonight, caused a bit of a stir Friday when he told reporters that if he wasn’t feeling well, he would be “the first one to talk to Mike,” referring to Manager Mike Hargrove.

“I know it’s an important game, but I’m not going to go out and try to be a hero if it means hurting myself and the ballclub,” said Martinez, the 40-year-old right-hander.

Martinez, who has been suffering from elbow, shoulder and knee injuries and has had trouble bouncing back on his usual four days’ rest, seemed to imply that his status was questionable.

But more likely, he meant he would not try to stay in the game in later innings if he felt he wasn’t effective. Martinez gave up a two-run homer to Javier Lopez, on a 1-2 pitch, in the sixth inning of Atlanta’s 4-3 victory in Game 2.

“As far as I know right now, he’s pitching,” Hargrove said.

Pitching Coach Mark Wiley said right-hander Chad Ogea would be the likely starter if Martinez can’t go.

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Atlanta left fielder Ryan Klesko sprained his left thumb sliding into second base in the fifth inning of Game 5 Thursday night but said he will play tonight.

Klesko stayed in the game Thursday and, with his hand heavily taped, grounded out and hit a two-run homer--his third in three days--in his last two at-bats. He wore a plastic splint Friday.

“It’s fine--I’ll deal with the pain,” said Klesko, who is batting .333 with four RBIs in the Series after going hitless in the National League championship series.

It turns out that Lorene Klesko, Ryan’s mother, was able to retrieve one of her son’s three home run balls at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field, but it cost her.

When Klesko homered to right-center in the sixth inning of Game 4, the ball landed about six rows from where Lorene, 54, was sitting.

“It missed her by about 10 feet,” Klesko said. “She went down and got it, but she had to bribe them for it. It cost her a baseball bat, two balls autographed by our whole team and a couple of pictures. But it was worth it.”

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The designated hitter helped the Braves more than the Indians in Games 3, 4 and 5. Luis Polonia had four hits in 12 at-bats, a homer and three RBIs in the three games for Atlanta. Paul Sorrento and Herbert Perry went a combined two for 15 with no RBIs for Cleveland.

Polonia will go back to his reserve role and Klesko will return to left field, his normal position, today in Atlanta.

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A New York Post writer posed this question to Polonia, who was traded by the George Steinbrenner-owned Yankees to the Braves in August: If [new Yankee General Manager] Bob Watson called and asked who would be the best guy to manage the Yankees, who would you recommend?

“My dad,” Polonia said, amid a chorus of laughs. “Then I would play every day.”

Asked if his father, Luciano, speaks English, Polonia said, “No, but that would be great. Then he wouldn’t understand a damn thing George was saying.”

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Cleveland second baseman Carlos Baerga said the Indians will make several adjustments in their return engagement tonight against Tom Glavine, the winning pitcher in Game 2.

“We have to move up in the box, closer to the plate and make him get the ball up,” he said. “He likes to keep the ball down, throw his change-up and get ground-ball outs.”

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Center fielder Marquis Grissom has hit safely in all 13 of the Braves’ postseason games, and his 24 playoff hits tied the record for most in postseason play with Boston’s Marty Barrett, who had 24 in 1986. . . . Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones has 18 hits in postseason play, the most ever by a rookie.