Lo Duca Is an All-Star Once Again

The Dodgers learned there was another National League All-Star in their midst Thursday afternoon, but Adrian Beltre was extending congratulations in the clubhouse instead of receiving them.

National League Manager Jack McKeon selected catcher Paul Lo Duca as the replacement for Cincinnati Red first baseman Sean Casey, who is on the disabled list because of a strained right calf.

The move perplexed Lo Duca.

“Belly came up and congratulated me, and I told him, ‘Belly, I don’t deserve to go, you do,’ ” Lo Duca said. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be where we’re at right now, and that’s the bottom line. He’s carried us through the last month. It’s bittersweet. I wish he was there.”

Lo Duca, who was hitting .308 with six home runs and 35 runs batted in before the Dodgers played the Houston Astros on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, joins teammate Eric Gagne as an All-Star for a second consecutive season. Lo Duca becomes the third catcher on the team, joining Atlanta’s Johnny Estrada and the New York Mets’ Mike Piazza.

Lo Duca speculated that perhaps he was added to the team because Piazza, the veteran who has experimented with a move to first base to extend his career, might not catch many innings after being voted as the starter in fan balloting.

“I don’t know that Piazza’s going to catch,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “If that’s the case, they’re going to need another catcher.”

Lo Duca said he would like to catch Gagne in a late-inning save situation while noting that “the last time we did that in an All-Star game, it didn’t work out too good.”

Texas’ Hank Blalock capped a three-run eighth-inning rally for the American League last season with a two-out, two-run homer off Gagne.

Beltre was hitting .316 with 22 homers and 56 RBIs before Thursday.

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Guillermo Mota pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge stemming from an April 2003 arrest.

Superior Court Judge John Doyle ordered Mota to serve three years’ probation and pay $1,500 in fines, said Jane Robison of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Mota, who is from the Dominican Republic, also will perform Spanish-language public service announcements about the dangers of drinking and driving, Robison said.

Mota was charged last year with one misdemeanor count each of DUI and driving while having a .08% or higher blood-alcohol content. Those charges were dismissed as a result of the plea agreement.

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The Dodgers apparently rushed Beltre back into the lineup too quickly one night after the third baseman left in the fifth inning with a strained right thigh muscle.

Beltre, who expressed doubts about his ability to play before the game, had to leave after his first at-bat when the injury flared.

Beltre said the strain might have resulted from favoring his right leg because of bothersome bone spurs in his left ankle.

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A second MRI exam on Juan Encarnacion’s sore left shoulder revealed no further deterioration in the area. He sat out his fifth consecutive game with inflammation in the back of the shoulder.... Milton Bradley was back in the lineup against Houston right-hander Brandon Duckworth after sitting out two games because of discomfort batting right-handed.... Hideo Nomo is scheduled to begin a light throwing program today in his recovery from inflammation in his right rotator cuff.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.