Swing Music To Edgar

They hooked up a brand new small stereo in the clubhouse, because a day earlier the old unit was destroyed by the unlikeliest candidate in camp - mild-mannered Edgar Martinez.

Seems on Sunday, a few of the Mariners plugged the stereo into an outlet near Martinez’s locker and turned up the twin speakers. Martinez said nothing for a time, the music blaring, then stood up and took a bat to the whole system.

“I knew nobody would expect it from me, so I hit one of the speakers with a bat,” Martinez said. “It broke, but it didn’t stop the music. So I kept hitting it. When I looked up, everybody was standing around laughing. I just did it for fun.”

When he was through, half the players were on the floor, laughing.

The new stereo arrived Monday - courtesy of Martinez.

Stars of the day

Paul Menhart pitched three scoreless innings, the longest outing by a Mariners pitcher this spring, in the 13-7 victory Monday over the Milwaukee Brewers in Chandler.

Dan Wilson had a three-run, first-inning triple and Russ Davis doubled and hit his first exhibition home run.

Injury report

A rash of minor injuries: Rich Amaral was a late scratch from the lineup with a tight groin muscle; Paul Sorrento sprained his right ankle - before doubling in the game Sunday - and will miss a few games; Chris Bosio remains stiff and sore after his first start, insisting he was “no better, no worse” than any other day this spring. He’s struggling with a stiff, painful right knee - the one off-season surgery was supposed to strengthen.

“We’re concerned, but all we can do is try to get him into shape,” manager Lou Piniella said of Bosio. “If he can’t pitch, he has to tell us.”

Camp notes

Leadoff hitter Luis Polonia scored a pair of runs and stole his first base, while one of his competitors for the job - Darren Bragg - went 2-for-3. Bragg has started 5 for 10, Polonia 2 for 9.

Worrisome performance of the day? Bobby Ayala pitched the ninth, gave up four hits and four runs - including back-to-back home runs.

“Fans might see that and panic, we can’t,” Piniella said. “He was just throwing fastballs, trying to get the game over with.”

Salomon Torres, trying to smooth out his newly retooled delivery, pitched two shutout innings and had the day’s fastest pitch, clocked at 94 mph.

After his 28-pitch, one-third of an inning appearance Sunday, in which he gave up six runs, Norm Charlton destroyed his locker - with one wooden panel from it winding up across the clubhouse.

“I get embarrassed when I give up a hit,” he said. “Six runs? It was a wakeup call.”

Piniella agreed: “You come off the year Norm had, you don’t think this can happen to you. When it does, early, it makes you focus a little more. Norm is focused.”

Joey Cora, four stitches in his upper lip, asked to play Monday and did. “It’s not a TV game,” he joked, gingerly touching his swollen lip. “No one will see this.”

Cora took a bad-hop grounder during practice Sunday that drove a tooth through his upper lip.

Quotebook

Third baseman Davis, hit in the head by a fastball in his first Cactus League at-bat Friday:

“I kind of like being hit once in awhile. It really makes you focus. Not in the head, though.”

Piniella on agents:

“Agents used to call me to complain about the playing time of their clients. I’d ask them, ‘Do you like your job?’ They’d say ‘Yes.’ I’d say, ‘Well, I like mine, too - and I’m not going to keep it long if I keep playing your client!’ I don’t get many calls from agents, anymore.”