Martin is no slouch in crouch

Catcher Russell Martin said he felt good Monday evening.

Honest, no aches, no pains, no twinges.

Seventeen innings of crouching Sunday in San Diego before the Dodgers pulled out a 5-4 victory? No problem.

“I’m not sore at all,” Martin said in the Dodgers’ clubhouse before Monday’s game. “I’d tell you guys if I was. They were all quick innings. How hard is it to crouch? It’s not like I was running all over the place.”

He must have felt something as the innings kept coming.

“I was getting hungry toward the end of the game,” he said. “Then I got grumpy.”

So what would it take to truly tire him out? “Maybe 20 innings.”

Martin was ready to go again Monday night. No way, said his manager, Grady Little. “He’s got a lot of energy,” Little said, “but we’ll make those kind of decisions.”

For the third time this season, Martin was out of the starting lineup, replaced by veteran Mike Lieberthal, a big Martin booster.

“He could probably catch 162 games,” Lieberthal said. “He has youth. He has a great body. He’s Robocop. He can just keep going.”

Lieberthal was there once, but no longer. He’s 35, Martin only 24. Lieberthal is in his 14th big-league season, Martin in his first full year.

Lieberthal treasures his rare starts these days.

“I have my World Series game every week and a half,” he said.

Martin says he doesn’t worry about what he’ll have left when he’s Lieberthal’s age, if he’s still catching.

“I don’t think about that,” Martin said. “I just want to play as long as my body allows.”

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Dodgers pitchers Hong-Chih Kuo (rotator cuff) and Yhency Brazoban (right elbow) will continue their rehabilitation work this week with the team’s triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas.

Kuo will start Wednesday with the idea of getting in three or four innings of work, Little said. Brazoban will work an inning Wednesday and another Thursday.

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Pitcher Brad Penny, a boxing fan, is hoping to buy Saturday night’s pay-per-view fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and have it shown in the clubhouse at Atlanta, where the Dodgers will be playing the Braves.

Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EDT. Penny, who is not scheduled to pitch Saturday, is hoping that, with the fight not expected to begin before 11:15, he and any interested teammates can stick around after the game and watch.

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Former Dodgers pitcher Tom Candiotti (1992-97) is in his second season as a broadcaster for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although he embraces the opportunity to stay around the game, he says the feelings are different.

“Once you retire, it’s not the same,” he said. “You don’t have the same emotions. You feel bad when guys you like lose, but you don’t live and die with the team. You can play golf or whatever, but you can never get back the competitive nature of playing.”

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Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully missed the game for personal reasons, the team said.

steve.springer@latimes.com