"Nate McLouth will take positive reinforcement where he can get it these days, and the .029-hitting center fielder got some Sunday in a minor league game.

He went 3-for-6 with a walk in an intrasquad game on a backfield near Champion Stadium.

"I'm glad I got a chance to do it," said McLouth, who hit every inning of the rain-shortened minor league game. "I just needed to step away. Hitting is a funny thing. It can wear on you, even in spring training when numbers don't matter - because they do. Not necessarily numbers, but feeling well and making good contact matters.

"And when that's not happening, regardless of whether it's spring training or not, that's frustrating."

Manager Bobby Cox and hitting coach Terry Pendleton told McLouth, mired in an 0-for-28 skid, that they thought it would be best for him to go play in the minor league game so that he could get more work in an environment conducive to it.

McLouth agreed and headed over to the backfield, where the game was moved up to 10:30 a.m. so they could be sure to get most of it in before the rains arrived.

"That's what needed to be done," said McLouth, who is 1-for-35 this spring with three walks and 14 strikeouts. "Get as many [at-bats] in one day as I could. It was a great idea, and when they presented me with the option I jumped all over it.""