Switch will get Loney in lineup

When the Dodgers’ lineup is announced Friday night at Dodger Stadium, the loudest roar could be generated by the starting third baseman.

Nomar Garciaparra is moving across the infield at the request of Manager Grady Little to accommodate hot-hitting first baseman James Loney and to displace disappointing third basemen Wilson Betemit and Tony Abreu. Garciaparra took ground balls at third base for the first time Monday afternoon and could play there as soon as Friday, when the Dodgers open a three-game series against San Diego.

“Whatever’s best for the team to help us win, that’s really what it’s about,” Garciaparra said. “Everyone out there with this uniform on feels the exact same way I do, and that’s what I love about this team.”

Little said he had been contemplating the move for about a week, explaining that it could help the Dodgers “get in a position where we can be the best we can be.”

It creates an opening for Loney, the rookie who is hitting .448 with two homers and nine runs batted in in his first 11 games this season with the Dodgers.

“He’s just the kind of hitter that goes to the plate and it doesn’t look like he’s ever fooled by a pitch,” Little said of Loney, who had a two-run triple as a pinch-hitter Monday against Arizona. “He’s ready to hit a lot of different pitches in a lot of different locations, and he hits them hard.”

The change reflects waning confidence in the Dodgers’ current third basemen. Abreu was hitting .341 as recently as June 6, but his average has fallen to .271. Betemit homered Monday for his first hit in 19 at-bats. He is batting .198 and three of his eight homers have come as a pinch-hitter.

“Nothing is a last resort,” Little said. “We still have hopes that Wilson will get it going. We still have hopes that this kid will have that rhythm that he was in the last half of the season for us last year, but it hasn’t happened yet, so we have to look for some other options right now.”

Garciaparra, a longtime shortstop, moved to third base with the Chicago Cubs late in the 2005 season before becoming a first baseman with the Dodgers the next spring. He made 34 starts at third base with the Cubs, hitting .308 in those starts with eight doubles and seven homers.

Whereas former Cubs manager Dusty Baker gave Garciaparra one day to become acquainted with his new position in the wake of an injury to Aramis Ramirez, Little will allow Garciaparra a little more time to prepare for the switch.

“So Grady’s really nice. Dusty’s mean,” Garciaparra joked.

Little said Garciaparra might play first base intermittently after the switch, and that he would still require an occasional day off.

Garciaparra said he was merely following the lead of other Dodgers who have shuffled positions in recent years.

“It’s not easy doing any of that stuff. It’s always an adjustment,” Garciaparra said. “But I’ve never heard guys complain. They just go out there and do it and do what’s asked of them to the best of their ability. I’m no different than any of those guys.”

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Infielder Ramon Martinez rejoined the Dodgers, took some swings in the batting cage and reported that his bothersome back no longer troubled him after a visit to a spine specialist in Los Angeles.

“She got some joints moving,” Martinez said. “Everything was kind of stuck.”

Martinez suffered the injury early this month in Pittsburgh when he was sprinting and his back “just locked up big-time.” He has been performing exercises to strengthen muscles in the area and said he hoped to begin a rehabilitation assignment in a couple of days.

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The Dodgers released Matt White, the minor league pitcher who owns a rock quarry in Massachusetts that geologists said could produce more than $2 billion worth of stone. White, a left-hander who was 2-4 with a 3.83 earned-run average for triple-A Las Vegas, is expected to sign with a team in Japan.... Reliever Chin-hui Tsao, on the disabled list since late last month because of a strained right shoulder, could embark on a rehabilitation assignment in a few days after throwing about 45 pitches Monday.

ben.bolch@latimes.com