DODGERS NOTEBOOK: PITCHING NOW A PRIORITY AS TRADE DEADLINE NEARS.

Byline: TONY JACKSON 

Staff Writer

With the non-waiver trading deadline now two weeks away, the Dodgers' focus has largely shifted from adding a power hitter to adding either a starting pitcher or a reliever.

The change comes in response not only to the offense's dramatic improvement since Bill Mueller replaced Eddie Murray as hitting coach last month, but also to the pitching staff suffering because of a season-ending injury to Jason Schmidt and an injury to Randy Wolf that might keep him out for the rest of this month.

"I think our offense has shown great improvement in the last month," Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said. "I am not as concerned with that as I am with making sure we have enough pitching, whether it comes internally or from the outside."

While the field of quality starting pitchers being shopped is noticeably thin, one available reliever in whom the Dodgers are believed to have at least some interest is Kansas City's Octavio Dotel, a former major-league closer who would give the Dodgers a seventh-inning bridge to setup man Jonathan Broxton and closer Takashi Saito. A source close to the Royals said the Dodgers have recently been heavily scouting that club's games.

For now, though, the Royals probably are asking for either Russell Martin, Matt Kemp or James Loney, none of whom the Dodgers have any interest in parting with. But the Royals aren't a factor in either the American League Central or wild-card race, so the price for Dotel might come down in the final days before the July 31 deadline.

The Dodgers also have heavily scouted the Chicago White Sox, probably with a focus on right-handed starter Jose Contreras. But he is 35 and is owed $20 million over the next two seasons, and his velocity has dropped considerably.

A source close to the White Sox said the club might want Dodgers shortstop prospect Chin-lung Hu, the Most Valuable Player of Sunday's All-Star Futures Game. But Hu is another player the Dodgers aren't likely to deal.

The Dodgers have so many players hitting well now that there isn't room for all of them in the everyday lineup -- although manager Grady Little did manage to squeeze both Matt Kemp (.380 average) and Andre Ethier (.295) into Monday night's lineup by resting Luis Gonzalez.

But pitching, which was the Dodgers' strength most of the first half, has fallen on hard times because of injuries and an increased workload for the bullpen. In their final six games of the first half, the Dodgers got more than five innings from their starter just once. In their first three games of the second half, they used seven different relievers for a total of 13 appearances and 18 innings, including six relievers for six innings in a 12-inning game on Saturday.

Also: Roberto Hernandez, the veteran reliever whom the Dodgers signed to a minor-league contract last week, was slated to make his debut for Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday night against Portland. Little hinted that Hernandez might be the leading candidate for a callup if the Dodgers go back to 12 pitchers, something they probably will do soon because they are four games into a stretch of 17 consecutive games without a day off.