Evans Changed His Sox From White to Blue

Dan Evans made the ascent from intern to assistant general manager during his 19 years with the Chicago White Sox, so you might think the Dodger general manager would be misty-eyed to see his former team play his new one.

Not particularly, it turns out. In fact, Evans said he has been “weaned” off the White Sox since leaving the organization after the 2000 season.

“It’s not funky to play them because I’ve watched them play for 2 1/2 years as another club,” Evans said Friday before the Dodgers played the White Sox at Dodger Stadium. “They’re in the other league, and I haven’t had a lot of contact. Heck, I want to beat them as much as I want to beat anybody else we play.”

That doesn’t mean Evans still doesn’t have friends in the organization. He knows Chicago Manager Jerry Manuel and a number of figures in the front office. While much of the White Sox roster has turned over since his departure, Evans was pleased to see one familiar face in trainer Herm Schneider.

“Hermy and I go back to when I was a 20-year-old intern and a junior in college,” said Evans, 43. “He’s been one of my best friends my whole adult life.”

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Manager Jim Tracy said the length of fill-in starter Andy Ashby’s outing against the White Sox tonight would hinge more on fatigue than a specific pitch count.

“We will just monitor his situation very closely,” Tracy said. “We said to him the other day, ‘Just get out there and go.’ If it’s 2 2/3, 3 1/3 or four [innings], we have somebody to piggyback with him.

“We have an extremely well-rested bullpen.”

Tracy said usual setup man Guillermo Mota could pitch more than a few innings, depending on how deep into the game Ashby is able to go. The right-hander pitched four innings in his only start of the season, a 9-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants on April 19.

Said Ashby: “I’m not looking at anything but going out there and trying to throw as many pitches as I can.”

Ashby’s start is necessitated by the loss of Darren Dreifort, who will undergo season-ending surgery after being diagnosed Friday with “insufficiency” in the medial collateral ligament in his arthritic right knee.

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Tracy said Daryle Ward, on the disabled list because of tendinitis in his right wrist, is making progress after the infielder-outfielder hit soft toss in the batting cage Friday. Ward is expected to require a minor league rehabilitation assignment before rejoining the Dodgers.