MIAMI – Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Richie Sexson pulled a muscle stretching a new cap. San Diego Padres pitcher Jay Witasick hurt his arm taking out the trash. Atlanta Braves left-hander Mike Hampton, who strained his right calf in a treadmill accident, reinjured himself stepping out of the shower. And St. Louis Cardinals minor-leaguer Mike Crudale broke his toe answering the phone.

Anyone who suspects professional baseball players are not finely conditioned world-class athletes need only turn to the injury reports for evidence some are brittle or not the brightest bulbs on the tree.

The poster child for the latter could be Baltimore Orioles outfielder Marty Cordova, who missed a game last year after falling asleep in a tanning bed and burning his face, or Braves reliever John Smoltz, who burned himself while ironing a shirt – which he was wearing.

Marlins strength coach Dale Torborg, a former minor-league first baseman and professional wrestler, doesn’t buy either argument. Baseball players never have been as fit as they are now, he said, and the kind of freak injuries that sidelined Witasick and Crudale happen to thousands of people every day. It’s just that nobody notices when a cap-stretching injury sidelines an accountant or a Wal-Mart greeter.

“Everybody has weird injuries,” Torborg said. “People get hurt doing silly, stupid things. There’s no rhyme or reason.”

But there are clues. Couches, for instance, seem to figure prominently in several baseball injuries. Arizona’s Mark Grace broke his toe on one last season while rushing across the clubhouse to congratulate teammate Damian Miller on making the All-Star team. And pitcher Ricky Bones strained his back getting off a couch in the Marlins clubhouse.

Players also should avoid sleep. Former San Francisco Giant Chris Brown didn’t play in a game once after he “slept on his eye wrong.”

A phone felled former Marlin Walt Weiss, who once missed two weeks after tripping over the cord. And Padres reliever Luther Hackman missed several games last week after cutting his index finger swinging a weighted ball in the dugout.

All of which proves his point, Torborg said.

Ordinary activities can topple even extraordinary people. As an example, he cites the case of former minor-league teammate Brian Buchanan, a Miami native now with the Padres.

While trying to beat a close play at first, Buchanan hit the base wrong “and his foot came off,” Torborg said. “It was still in the shoe when they got to him.”

The break was so severe, the bone between the ankle and the shin had detached Buchanan’s foot.

“Throughout the season, thousands of times people run down to first base and nothing ever happens. But the freak ones do,” Torborg said.

During spring training in 2002, Philadelphia Phillies’ Dave Hollins suffered a series of spider bites and spent most of last season on the disabled list because of it.

Marlins trainer Sean Cunningham said strange injuries might be more prevalent in baseball because players play every day. So instead of letting nagging injuries heal, players aggravate them by staying in the lineup. Or taking out the trash, whichever comes first.

“It’s a daily grind for these guys,” he said. “Give an injury a day’s rest or two days’ rest, and it’s not going to be an issue two days later. In football or hockey or basketball, they might not have the next game for three or four days.”

Still, several baseball players just don’t look like athletes. Maybe that’s the problem. For every finely chiseled Gerald Williams, there are a dozen pear-shaped Armando Reynosos. That, too, is misleading, Torborg said.

“There’s more than looking physically impressive,” he said. “There’s cardiovascular shape. Look at Babe Ruth. You would say he’s the worst-shaped athlete, yet he hit

home run after home run after home run. He was in good baseball shape. Sometimes just because you look good aesthetically, it’s not the best for the sport.”

“In baseball, you’re dealing with fine motor skills. You don’t necessarily have to be an “athlete’ to throw a ball 95 mph,” Cunningham said. “But with the game developing the way it’s developing, people are recognizing … that it is an athletic sport, and therefore the best condition you can be in is going to be beneficial to your performance.”

But that didn’t help the pitcher Cunningham had to treat a few years ago when he was with the Montreal Expos. Turns out the pitcher had lacerated his pitching hand in a fishing accident. He missed three weeks.