Bob Watson: ‘They Know Where I Am’

Bob Watson, a finalist for the Dodger general manager job in 1998, was at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday on major league baseball business and expressed a willingness to again explore the job, with a caveat.

“I have not talked to the Dodgers; the Dodgers have not talked to me,” Watson said. “I’ll talk, but they’ve got to call. I’m not going to go knocking on doors.

“They know where I am, they know my credentials and they know I’m a winner.”

Watson, 55, graduated from Fremont High in Los Angeles before attending L.A. Harbor College in Wilmington and embarking on a 16-year big league career.

He became the game’s first African American general manager when he was hired by the Houston Astros before the 1994 season and, in his first year as the New York Yankee general manager in 1996, the Yankees won the World Series. He left the Bronx in February 1998.

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Right-hander Andy Ashby, on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right (pitching) elbow, played catch Wednesday for the first time in a week.

“It felt 100% better than it did in San Francisco,” Ashby said. “We’ll see how it responds and play it by ear. It was free and easy, so it was definitely a plus.”

Ashby, 33, who signed a three-year, $22.5-million contract with the Dodgers on Dec. 6, said he injured the elbow in his first start of the season snapping a curveball too hard.

He played through it, though, and is 2-0 with a 3.86 earned-run average in two starts.

“That’s what’s so frustrating,” Ashby said. “I couldn’t have felt better coming into the season. I just changed a curveball and tweaked the muscle.

“Thank God it’s early in the season.”

Ashby’s throwing schedule depends upon how swollen the elbow is today. He said he expects to play catch at least twice more before taking the mound for side work.

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Dave Hansen, out since breaking bones in his left hand in the Dodgers’ first spring training game on March 2, will work out at Dodger Stadium today and could be activated Friday.

He has been on a rehabilitation assignment at Vero Beach, Fla.

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Tonight’s game has been deleted from the Fox Sports Net 2 broadcast schedule and will not be televised because of the Kings’ playoff game. A Dodger telecast has been added July 23 at Milwaukee.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

KEVIN BROWN

(2-1, 0.93 ERA)

vs.

PIRATES’

TODD RITCHIE

(0-2, 3.42)

Dodger Stadium, 7

TV--None. Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Brown, who experienced a tight back in his last start on Friday, is 5-4 with a 2.41 ERA in nine career starts against Pittsburgh. Ritchie, who threw his first career complete game at Dodger Stadium on June 15, 1999, in an 11-1 win over Brown, is 2-0 with a 5.26 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers.

* Tickets--(323) 224-1448.