Martinez Takes Yanks On Long Ride

Twelve days after Dwight Gooden introduced himself to the Seattle Mariners - and no-hit a club that had never laid eyes on him - Edgar Martinez made certain the Good Doctor caught his name.

Gooden will remember. And so will a Kingdome crowd of 42,410 that watched Martinez launch a home run that went farther than anything he had hit in this lifetime.

Good for three runs, the homer landed in the second deck in left field - just the sixth ball ever hit there - and was the key blow in what became Seattle’s 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday.

“I hit one up there once in batting practice,” Martinez said of that distant upper deck. “I never think about hitting one there in a game.”

A two-time American League batting champion, Martinez can hit for average with anyone, and his power to all fields has him on pace for more than 70 doubles this season. But a 431-foot home run?

Consider this: The first five hitters to reach the second deck in left field were beasts: Steve Balboni, Jose Canseco, Gary Matthews, Ron Kittle and Doug Rader - and each made it before home plate was moved in 1990, shoved back 10 feet farther from left field.

“Edgar spends 40 minutes to an hour every night after the game lifting weights, doing extra work,” Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. “It’s why he’s the premiere designated hitter in the game. When I was a DH, I had a beer and went home.”

The charge Martinez put in Gooden’s first-inning fastball was considerable, but after it landed, there were still eight long innings separating Seattle from its 26th win of the season, and the starter du jour was Paul Menhart, who began the night with a big-league earned-run average of 8.40.

For those with short memories, Menhart last pitched in the majors on May 4, beating Cleveland, 5-1, for his first win of the season. That victory earned him a demotion to Tacoma, where he worked not just on his pitching but on his head.

“My noodle was messed up,” he admitted. “I understood the move, but no matter how you look at it, it’s hard accepting the minor leagues after you’ve been here - and harder to go down after you’ve pitched a good game.”

On Sunday, he pitched another one, holding New York to one earned run in 6-2/3 innings.

By the time Menhart handed the game to his bullpen, Alex Rodriguez - who spent the pre-game hours vomiting in the clubhouse - had tossed a solo home run into his first four-hit game.

Despite the problems before the game, Rodriguez continued a torrid stretch of games since being moved to the second spot in Seattle’s batting order. In 15 games there, Rodriguez is batting .441 with six home runs and 21 RBI.

Left-hander Tim Davis followed Menhart to the mound, coming in to face Wade Boggs, and retired him on a grounder to first base to end the seventh inning. But while covering first on the play Davis broke his left leg. He’ll miss at least two months.

While Davis underwent X-rays, Piniella handed the ball and the final two innings over to closer Norm Charlton, who gave up one run in the ninth but preserved the victory with his sixth save of the year.

The win allowed Seattle to win the rematch with Gooden and take two of three games from New York, but the irony was that just as the Mariners rotation showed signs of life, the bullpen suffered a major setback.

“Salomon Torres looked so good, then Menhart tonight, you start to think you’re close to putting something together,” Piniella said. “Then we lose Davis. My God - Randy Johnson and Chris Bosio and Jay Buhner and now Davis, all in two weeks.”

Johnson worries M’s

Jay Buhner came out of the game early on Saturday, which was a far sight better than he could do Sunday - when an ailing right knee prevented him from starting in right field.

Diagnosed as a mild strain, Buhner’s twisted right knee could improve with time, and after the scheduled off-day Monday he might play again Tuesday. Until then, the Mariners have bigger worries.

Bigger as in “Big Unit.”

“They thought three weeks initially,” Piniella said of Randy Johnson’s bulging disk in his back. “I’m afraid it’s going to be much longer than that.”

Sunday marked 15 days since Johnson had thrown a pitch, and just when he’ll throw another - either on the sidelines or in a game - is very much an open question.

“When he pitched, that right calf would tighten up,” Piniella said. “Now, when he walks around more than a few minutes, it still tightens up. I’m not sure they know exactly what to do about it, but his back is still a problem.”

Johnson’s frustrations are growing, too. He pitched fewer than 10 innings this month, and when he does begin throwing - whenever that is - it will be like starting over in spring training.

“If I miss all of May and into June, I’m not going to be able to pitch until July,” Johnson said. “I’m not close to being over this yet.”

Buhner, meanwhile, continued to receive treatment for the knee he twisted more than a week ago.

Ayala close to return

Reliever Bobby Ayala, on the disabled list since April 23, could rejoin the team “soon,” according to senior vice president Lee Pelekoudas, who said Ayala has been in Arizona with his wife, who is expecting.