You can probably blame it on Jose Canseco.

And no, this has nothing to do with steroids.

When Canseco suffered a season-ending elbow injury after a pitching appearance for Texas in 1993, it put a major damper on one of baseball's more amusing oddities: the use of a position player as a pitcher in a lopsided game.

Ever since, most managers have been far more reluctant to risk the health of a highly paid player to save a relief staff — and amuse both his teammates and any fans who might be left in the ballpark for the final inning of a blowout.

Grady Little is certainly one such manager. Even as the Dodgers relief staff has been worn down like a bar of soap through repeated use, Little has made it clear not to expect Jeff Kent or James Loney on the mound.

"We'll try to stay away from it," Little said. "When you do stuff like that you're risking an injury to a position player that's totally unnecessary."

Little had the perfect opportunity to let one of those players throw in last week's 15-3 loss to the Phillies. Given that the Dodgers' pitchers managed to give up 26 hits in that game — one short of the club record — even Little knew a mound novice couldn't have done much worse. Loney, for example, was a very good pitcher in high school.

"He could probably go out there some days and get them out better than the other guys," Little said. "But we kind of like what he's doing with the bat, so we're going to try to keep from getting him hurt."

Kent has said he'd like to make a pitching appearance before he retires, but Little isn't convinced that would be a good idea.

"I don't think they're going to let him bring a screen into there like we use in batting practice," he said. " I'd be scared to death to have one hit back through the box."

As a minor league manager, Little did occasionally use position players on the mound — correctly anticipating a rain delay, he once used a catcher as a starting pitcher, then brought his starter in when play resumed — and as a minor league catcher, he was once pressed into pitching duty in a game in Reading, Pa.

"Jim Essian hit a home run off me," he said. "The game was a blowout. He hit a home run, then bought me a steak after the game."

Incidentally, after no position players made it to the mound last year, at least three have done it this year. Josh Wilson of Tampa Bay, Scott Spezio of St. Louis and Jason Wood of Florida each had a one-inning appearance in June. None of them gave up a run.

How Lowe can you go? On the other hand, Little has shown a willingness to occasionally send a starting pitcher out to relieve.

The latest example was Sunday, when Derek Lowe did his best to help out the injury-depleted and overtaxed bullpen with a 1- seventh inning against the Mets.

"It was his day to throw anyway," said Little, "so he just did it in the ballgame."

Lowe threw just 10 pitches, which should keep him in position for his next scheduled start, Wednesday at Houston. That start was already coming on an extra day's rest, which is one reason the relief appearance was feasible. (The extra day will allow him to avoid pitching in the Dodgers' next series at Colorado, where Lowe has not had much success.) Efficient though he may have been, Little said there was no temptation to ask Lowe to stay in for another inning: "We need him much more for six or seven innings on Wednesday."

It was Lowe's second relief appearance as a Dodger — the other was a three-inning stint against Cincinnati last Aug. 29 — and only his third in regular-season play. Brad Penny also made a relief appearance last year.

Shifting roles: With Eric Stults moving from the bullpen to start Sunday, and Lowe coming out of the pen, the Dodgers now have six pitchers who have both started and relieved this year, the others being Chad Billingsley, Mark Hendrickson, Brett Tomko and Hong-Chih Kuo.

Those dual roles reflect both the instability of the starting rotation and the dire straits of a bullpen without closer Takashi Saito. After being held out of action for four days because of shoulder soreness, Saito was scheduled to have an MRI on Monday.

The bullpen was probably more than happy to see Lowe take an inning, given its recent workload. In the first 10 games since the all-star break, relievers threw 4113 innings, including a five-game stretch when they contributed 22 innings to the starters' 23. And with the current injuries and heavy usage, it seems the roles of the relievers are shifting constantly.

With Saito out, setup man Jonathan Broxton has closed, and recently acquired veteran Roberto Hernandez has been filled the setup role. Of course, that can all change at any time.

"Any time you're in a situation where guys are getting out of their regular roles, because of the situation we're in, it's hard to ask for the same outcome every time," said Little. "But they're doing the best they can, and we will get through this."

— David Lassen's baseball notebook appears Tuesday.