Dodgers’ young catcher catches on

MILWAUKEE —  The tattoo splashes across his left shoulder in bright shades of red and blue, a contrast to the dark and serious eyes glaring down at it.

“No big deal,” Russell Martin said. “That’s just my new tattoo.”

Look closely, though, and see that it is a very big deal. It is complicated drawing of a giant bull whose horns are wrapped in chains that disappear into his skin.

“It’s someone taking the bull by the horns,” Martin said. “But you don’t know who that ‘someone’ is.”

Oh, yes, we do. That’s exactly who Martin is. That’s exactly what Martin does.

Leading the Dodgers from behind the mask and the plate, Martin is the hidden man taking the bull by the horns.

The first two games this season, he was dragging in vain. On Wednesday, finally, he dragged them to their first victory, a 5-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers that felt as painful as the administering of that tattoo.

“It’s tough to get that first one out of the way,” Dodgers Manager Grady Little said.

Tough for most of them, but it has seemed strikingly easy for Martin, who lately seems as if he’s been here forever.

Take Wednesday at Miller Park, when he was the last man off the diamond, the last man to hit the showers, the leading man in a nutty three-hour triumph.

While everyone was in the clubhouse celebrating, Martin was still on the field doing a television interview in nearly full catcher’s gear, having removed only his mask.

While everyone was dressing and heading for the buses, Martin was sitting by his locker, still wearing his uniform underwear, checking messages on his cellphone.

“For a young guy, he’s very intense,” Mike Lieberthal said.

On Wednesday, as in all of the first three games here, he was also very good.

Martin had a hit-and-run single that led to the first Dodgers run.

He deftly handled four Dodgers pitchers in four unusual situations.

Then, as if this weren’t enough, he may have saved the game with a stretching catch and tag on Rickie Weeks at home plate in the seventh inning with the Dodgers leading by one.

“The guy acts far beyond his age,” said Jason Schmidt, who struggled but won in his Dodgers debut. “ ... Everything he does, it’s like he’s a veteran who knows exactly what to do.”

At age 24, as the youngest Dodgers starter, could Martin be the next clubhouse leader? With Rafael Furcal hurt, he is the leader right now. The way he is acting, he could be the leader for a long time.

Said Schmidt: “It’s not something you can easily describe. But you can see it right away. It’s just how he carries himself.”

Said Martin: “Being a leader is a funny word. I just prepare myself every day, then I go out and do it. I guess if people see it, that’s fine.”

What everyone has seen first this season is his increased bat speed and plate awareness.

In the season opener, he was the only batter who made Ben Sheets work. On Tuesday, he hit a pool-shot single, banged a double and bombed a homer.

Then Wednesday, he grounded a single to right that moved a running Juan Pierre to third base, from where he scored moments later.

Catchers aren’t supposed to be so versatile as hitters. Catchers are supposed to swing hard and jog.

“After helping the Dodgers take the lead, he then took over behind the plate, guiding Schmidt, among others, through the narrow patches of a smart-hitting Brewers lineup.

Throwing only four of his 95 pitches as fast as 90 mph, this newfangled Schmidt needs to win with as much smarts as power. This is where Martin can help. In fact, Martin insists on it.

“There were times I would tell him how I wanted to pitch a guy, and he would say, ‘No, I think another way is better,’ ” the veteran Schmidt said with a grin. “Finally I said, ‘OK, Russell, we’ll just go off what you say.’ ”

He helped Schmidt give up only three hits in five innings, guided Joe Beimel, helped Jonathon Broxton through an unfamiliar seventh inning, then led Takashi Saito through a turbulent 1 2/3 innings.

With Weeks on third base after a one-out triple in the seventh, he made all the difference.

With the infield in, J.J. Hardy hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Ramon Martinez, who saw Weeks streaking for home and had one thought.

“With Russell behind the plate, I just have to throw it in there and we’ll get him,” Martinez said. “Russell is the kind of guy who will give up his body to make the out.”

This time, he needed to stretch to his left, grab the throw, and swipe down the tag to his right. Weeks was out. The Dodgers survived the inning and never lost the lead and flew out of town with a 1-2 record and a huge sigh.

“It’s not that complicated,” Martin said. “I was just playing catch.”

Yeah, and that’s just a tattoo.

*

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke @latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.