For example, no other wives have come forward within the past 48 hours. The current number is holding steady at two.

And, if he is charged with bigamy -- a felony in Arizona for which the punishment ranges from nine months of probation to two years in prison -- and it threatens his baseball future and two-year, $6.175 million contract, there might be an opening on Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?

Not that Thursday was an odd day in the life of a major-league baseball club, but the Padres started the morning huddled in their clubhouse while Martin began the process of untangling himself from a very sticky web. The session was described as "emotional," although most of the Padres were loathe to discuss it. No surprise there. By now, most of these guys have seen enough episodes of The Jerry Springer Show to know that, when confronted with a situation like this, there is only one safe reaction:

Duck.

"After 32 years of doing everything exactly right and just being a pretty decent guy, it's a long fall from glory," Martin said shortly after meeting with his teammates. "That might be what hurts the most, is that you feel like you let so many people down. You realize that there's nothing you can really do or say that's going to make it better."

OK, so maybe the first part of that is a bit of an exaggeration. Martin does appear to have done many things right during his 32 years -- all you need to do is talk to people around the game to verify that. He's well-liked, popular, engaging, and he smiles a lot.

But doing everything exactly right? Well, there is that little matter of marrying Shawn Haggerty in Las Vegas in December 1998 while he was still married to his first wife, Cathy. According to the Scottsdale police, that's what started his blowout with Shawn on Monday night -- she was demanding to know when he was going to divorce Cathy. They say she started hitting him when she didn't get a satisfactory answer, Al popped her in the mouth with a closed fist, and that was it.

Charges of domestic violence and making threats, the bigamy investigation and an April 12 pre-trial court date in Scottsdale. Suddenly, spring training is buried under a barrage of soap bubbles. The only person missing is Susan Lucci.

Martin didn't discuss any of these events -- alleged or otherwise -- on Thursday, of course, because his lawyer has ordered him to clam up. About as close to the fire as Martin dared step was when he said he remains "very confident" that he will beat the charges and when he confirmed Cathy is aware of Shawn and that whole, uh, situation.

"I can't really comment," Martin said. "For her sake (Cathy's), I wish I could."

He said he hasn't slept or eaten in three days. But what with being all lawyered up, it wasn't clear if that was because Martin was traumatized or simply wasn't sure where to go to get rest and nourishment. He was living with Wife No. 1 in a house in Scottsdale, while wife No. 2 was in an apartment across town -- thus giving a new twist to the baseball term "double-steal."

A lot of what Martin did say centered on his appreciation for the support he has received from the Padres' organization, and that was evident on Thursday. Between the club's morning workout and afternoon Cactus League game with Arizona, Martin sat at his locker and received a steady stream of visitors. One player would come over, sit down and quietly talk for a while, then he would leave and another would appear.

"I've known Al since Double-A ball (when they played together in Greenville, S.C., in 1991) -- he was my captain," Padres first baseman Ryan Klesko said. "He's a great guy, and I respect him.

"I can't believe what I hear from some lady. You never know. I'm not going to drop judgment on him. He's my teammate and my friend.

"Until things iron out and you find out what really happened. ... She may be saying stuff like this just to get back at him for something.''

In that regard, Klesko is right. Who knows what hidden agendas might be at work here? But what there is no escaping from is the swollen chin and mouth that were on display when police interviewed Shawn Haggerty-Martin the other night.

There's absolutely no getting around that. And there can be no excuse for it, either.

Al Martin could face up to two years in prison.(AP)

"Coming here today was probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to do," Martin said. "Just facing the fire, you know?"

For now, most of the flames are coming from the Law & Order folks. Baseball-wise, the Padres are going to let things play out in the courts before deciding whether any punishment will be levied.

"What we don't know far exceeds what we know," Padres owner John Moores told the San Diego Union-Tribune on Thursday. "We're going to be pretty deliberate. We don't want to prejudge anything. I wouldn't anticipate we'll do anything precipitously.''

The Padres not only invited Martin back to camp, they ran him right into Thursday afternoon's game, a 5-4 victory over the Diamondbacks. Martin promptly hit a single in his first at-bat and a ground-rule double in his second at-bat as if he didn't have a care in the world. Reaction from the crowd of more than 7,000 at the Peoria Sports Complex was muted -- when Martin was introduced, there were only a few scattered boos and a few scattered claps. Otherwise, it was fairly quiet.

"I look at this as a very good day," Martin said.

And there were no new marriage certificates anywhere in sight, either.