4/10 Funky Monkey Baby

An unwritten rule in the clubhouse is that the starting pitcher picks the pregame music. Carlos Zambrano decided Saturday to expand his song list and let outfielder Kosuke Fukudome hook up his iPod and play Funky Monkey Baby, a popular Japanese band that combines hip-hop, pop and rock together.

“The country guys play country music, the Latin guys play Latin music — Kosuke’s on the team so he should be able to play his music,” Zambrano said.

Judging by their reaction, Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot and Marlon Byrd probably won’t rush out and download Funky Monkey Baby’s new greatest hits album, released in February. This was definitely not like Stoney LaRue, one of Randy Wells’ favorites. But Fukudome was singing along to the tunes.

The mood changed when Zambrano switched to Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra — Geovany Soto knew the words to his songs — and then to the Mexican band, Mana.

“What kind of music is this?” Byrd asked Zambrano about Mana.

“Soft rock,” Big Z said.

OK, soft Latin rock. Byrd recognized that it was Mexican.

“That’s from my Esteban Loaiza, Luis Ayala, Vinny Castilla days,” Byrd said. “As long as it gets Zambrano right, it’s OK.”

What does Byrd prefer?

“When I go in the weight room, I go in there by myself and I’m blasting my hip-hop,” Byrd said. “In the offseason, I’m more heavy metal when it comes to music — anything from ’Slipknot’ to ’Metallica,’ it doesn’t really matter. Anything that makes me go crazy and want to go to the gym.”

You can sing along if you want.

– Carrie Muskat