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Songs help stoke the swagger when Isotopes go to bat

Oh, maestro

Music might soothe the savage breast, but it pumps up many Isotopes. Here's a sampling of what some ÕTopes listen to as they come to the plate.

Robert Andino: "Make It Rain" by Lil' Wayne

Reggie Abercrombie: "Get Buck" by Young Buck

John Gall: "Snow (Hey Oh)" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Valentino Pascucci: "Vicarious" by Tool

Brett Carroll: "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother

Josh Labandeira: "The Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground

John Baker: "I Got Five on It" by Luniz; "I Wear My Stunner Glasses at Night" by Federation

Andrew Beattie: "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder

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The jockstrap lasted 10 years. The spikes, three years.

So when Scott Seabol finally purchased new equipment this week, his fellow Isotopes saluted him.

An unnamed jokester - no Albuquerque player would own up to it - had team officials play a special song for Seabol's first at-bat Tuesday.

"Brand New Man" by country duo Brooks & Dunn.

"They thought it would be funny," Seabol said before Albuquerque knocked off Omaha 12-8 Wednesday night.

Most of the songs playing as Isotopes players walk to the plate do have significance.

Mohawked catcher John Baker often saunters to the plate to the tune of "I Got Five on it," by rap duo Luniz. Hip-hop isn't his favorite genre, but Baker has requested that and two other rap songs to play before he bats. He says it puts his mind in the right place.

"A lot of guys come out to hip-hop; I think it's because there's a lot of swagger in the lyrics," Baker said. "In baseball, confidence and swagger is very important. You need to believe in yourself. A lot of those song have that."

Baker's song mix has something else in common - it's all performed by Northern California artists. It's his way of paying homage to his home in Walnut Creek, Calif.

Rap is shortstop Robert Andino's music of choice. Lil' Wayne is his favorite.

It plays before Reggie Abercrombie comes to the plate and also second baseman Josh Labandeira.

But never infielder Andrew Beattie.

It's not that he dislikes rap. He's just not hot on new music or anything synthesized.

"I don't believe that too much of the new stuff is music," said Beattie, who walks out to perhaps the most recognizable song, Stevie Wonder's "Superstition."

"I like the beat to the intro of it," Beattie said. "It's got a good funk to it."

Some players have no preference.

Albuquerque first baseman Valentino Pascucci never selected any walk-up music before the season. Isotopes personnel assigned him Tool's "Vicarious." It has stuck.

Seabol had the same song for nearly a year. In April, he was struggling and started using "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn. The mellow tune doesn't stir his adrenaline, but that's not why he picked it.

"I played in Memphis and I knew it would (tick) Dean (Treanor) off a little bit," Seabol said, smiling at his piece of ribbing.

Seabol recently ditched that song. Now he doesn't have a preference.

And Treanor?

When asked what song he would want playing as he emerged from the dugout, the Isotopes manager didn't miss a beat.

"'I'm in Love with a Stripper' (by T-Pain)," Treanor said.

He grinned at his joke and walked off to a pregame meeting. Then he turned back around.

"That's an easy one," he said.