"Russell Martin was fresh off a back injury that kept him out of the lineup much of the last week, and yet the last couple of days he was getting itchy because he hadn't been hit in awhile.

"Earlier today I was just telling (Nick) Swisher, 'I'm getting bored back there,' " Martin said in the visitors' clubhouse Saturday night. "I said, 'I haven't had a play in a while. I need one.'"

You might be tempted to say be careful what you wish for after Martin took a broadside blast from Carlos Peña at the plate Saturday in what proved to be the key play in the Yankees' 4-3 victory over the Cubs. Except the Yankee catcher was all smiles afterward - practically thankful for the hit.

"The collision fired me up," he said. "It gave me an energy boost."

Martin says he really does love the contact, as long as he has time to brace for it. A product of Canada, he has a hockey player's mentality about absorbing punishment.

He's tough, all right, and already, in his first season as a Yankee, that has made him very popular in his own clubhouse. You think his teammates didn't love it Saturday when he took the shot at the plate, bounced up off the ground and showed Peña that he still had the ball?

"That's passion," said Joe Girardi. "That's emotion."

It is one reason that Martin has emerged as one of the best moves GM Brian Cashman made during the offseason, signing the former Dodger as a free agent to take over as the Yankees' No. 1 catcher."