The only real news was that the club acquired Chad Moeller from the Reds in a minor-league trade. He had been playing at Triple-A Louisville and was assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas, but I would imagine he’ll be up in September as a third catcher.

By Tony Jackson
Staff Writer
ST. LOUIS — Derek Lowe had faced two batters, thrown five pitches and recorded zero outs. And already, he had given up more runs than the Dodgers would score all afternoon.
A leadoff single by Aaron Miles and a first-pitch homer by Rick Ankiel — one of two on the day by the celebrated ex-pitcher — and the Dodgers were well on their way to a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. And Lowe was well on his way to extending his winless drought, which now stretches more than seven weeks.
In eight starts since his last win on June 22 at Tampa Bay, Lowe is 0-5 with a 5.05 ERA.
“I think this being my second time to pitch in 17 days, maybe that has a lot to do with it,” said Lowe, who continues to battle a sore left hip. “I’m used to pitching every five days. I think I was a little rusty, and as the game went along, I got into the flow of (it). Maybe next time, I’ll have a little better first inning.”
Lowe gave up five runs — two of which were unearned because of two errors by shortstop Rafael Furcal in the third — over six innings. He occasionally felt pain in his hip while pitching and batting.
“I would think … the only time I’m going to feel 100-percent recovered is (after the season), when I stop doing what I do,” Lowe said. “But it was 100 times better than it was a week ago. I can’t feel sorry for myself and put my head in the sand. I just have to go out there next time expecting to win.”
The Dodgers have now gone 13 consecutive games without a win by a starting pitcher.

No concerns: Veteran infielder Shea Hillenbrand went 3 for 4 and drove in two runs in his first game with the Dodgers’ Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate on Friday night. The Dodgers had signed Hillenbrand to a minor-league contract earlier that day and are expected to promote him to the majors for the September roster expansion if not sooner.
Dodgers manager Grady Little, who also managed Hillenbrand in Boston in 2002 and part of 2003, said he never had any trouble with Hillenbrand, who got into a highly publicized dispute with Toronto manager John Gibbons just before the Blue Jays traded Hillenbrand to San Francisco last July. Little also said he has no concerns about managing Hillenbrand again.
“I don’t even think any of us has the right to answer that question if we weren’t there,” Little said. “Those who believe everything they read and hear, that is their own fault.”

Minor trade: The Dodgers acquired non-roster catcher Chad Moeller, an eight-year major-league veteran, from the Cincinnati Reds for cash and assigned him to Las Vegas. Moeller, 32, will likely be called up in September.

Drastic measure: A sputtering offense can make a manager do unusual things. It was in that spirit that the Dodgers intentionally walked Albert Pujols with the bases empty and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning of a scoreless game on Friday night.
Actually, reliever Joe Beimel initially appeared to pitch to Pujols, then gave up and put him on after falling behind 2-0. But Little said Saturday that Pujols was never going to get a pitch to hit, anyway.
“We fell behind on purpose,” he said. “We were trying to get him to get himself out on a bad pitch. But once it got to 2-0, it got kind of scary.”
Pujols eventually did get himself out, though. Before Beimel threw a pitch to Jim Edmonds, he threw to first just to keep Pujols close. Pujols, who was running on Beimel’s first move, took off and was easily thrown out at second. The Dodgers then scored two runs in the ninth to win the game.