Martin isn’t looking for a break

If Joe Torre were to write Russell Martin’s name on the lineup card in each of the Dodgers’ remaining 137 games, Martin would be delighted.

“Absolutely,” the All-Star catcher said, his face lighting up at the thought of playing 162 games.

The idea of requesting a day off is as abhorrent to him as not running out a ground ball or not trying to break up a double play.

He just hasn’t thought of it.

Certainly, it wouldn’t occur to him so early in the season, even though he played a night game Saturday and a day game Sunday.

Displaying his usual efficiency and no sign of fatigue, Martin calmly guided starter Esteban Loaiza and four relievers through 10 innings of pitfalls and breaking balls to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, completing the Dodgers’ first three-game series sweep of the season.

Ask for a day off? Not Martin.

“Never,” he said, shaking his head for emphasis. “Never. Ever. Ever.”

Got it.

He doesn’t want to sit.

That’s one of many great things about the 25-year-old Canadian, who tied Mike Piazza’s franchise record last season by starting 143 games behind the plate and caught in 145 games overall, one short of the record Piazza set in 1993 and equaled in 1996.

Martin’s desire to play makes him the force he is at the plate and behind it. Last season, he was rewarded with the National League Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, only the third catcher to win both awards in the same season.

That same desire may wear him down later, when the Dodgers will need him most.

It did last season, when he batted only .259 in September with season lows for the month in on-base percentage (.330) and slugging percentage (.395). However, he said the numbers didn’t reflect his state of mind or body.

“I didn’t feel bad,” he said. “I felt better than I did the year before, actually, and I played more games.

“I don’t know. By tweaking your in-season workout program you can kind of take care of how you’re going to feel later in the season. I don’t really think if I get a day off in April, it’s going to matter come September.”

Last season, Grady Little couldn’t resist the temptation to send Martin out day after day. Torre feels that same tug, though he knows he will have to say no at some point for Martin’s own good.

Sunday was almost that day. Torre said he considered giving Martin a rest but when he factored in today’s travel day and Martin’s recent resurgence at the plate, Torre penciled his name in again.

Martin, who has started 23 games at catcher and appeared in the other two, responded with a hit in three at-bats plus two walks, raising his batting average to .280. In the five-game homestand, he was eight for 17 with two runs batted in and three runs scored.

“We’ve been playing good baseball this past week and it’s still early in the season but it’s good to finally put it together a little bit,” Martin said.

“We’re battling up there, having good at-bats, it seems like our pitching is like it needs to be. And we’ve just got to keep moving along, piece by piece. We’ll find it.”

But he won’t find himself getting a break any time soon.

Almost casually, Torre said he will consider playing Martin at third again, as happened Friday after Nomar Garciaparra strained a calf muscle.

Blake DeWitt is Torre’s first option, but against a tough left-hander Torre might sit DeWitt. That would make Chin-lung Hu Plan B and Martin a not-so-far-fetched Plan C.

“After watching the other day, there may be a day where we give Russell a day off and that day off may be at third base,” Torre said. “When I was catching, they gave me my day off at first. . . .

“The thing about catching is not on the physical part of it, it’s mental, if you do your job right. You get worn out mentally behind the plate when you’re trying to help that pitcher through a game.”

The word “tired” isn’t part of Martin’s vocabulary, which encompasses English and French. Predictably, he salivated at the prospect of getting another chance at third and agreed with Torre that moving out from behind the plate provides a mental break, if not a physical one.

“Before I got converted in 2002, that was my main position,” said Martin, who borrowed Delwyn Young’s glove Friday but will dig out his infielder’s glove and keep it in the dugout from now on.

“I’m still comfortable there. I take ground balls every day at shortstop. You don’t really lose that defense. It’s kind of like riding a bicycle.”

At some point, Torre will have to tell Martin it’s time to rest, that even the relative break of playing third isn’t the respite he will need.

“He’s one of your main hitters in the lineup and it’s tough to take him out of the lineup because of what he brings offensively,” Torre said.

Too tough, apparently, for Torre to do it now. But if he doesn’t do it later, both Martin and the Dodgers will pay the price.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.