Thursday, September 20, 2007 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

M's Notebook | Armstrong confirms Bavasi already has contract for 2008

Seattle Times staff reporter

OAKLAND, Calif. — Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi is already under contract for next year as part of the automatically renewable nature of his deal.

There continues to be much speculation about whether the team will bring Bavasi back for a fourth season. But his contract was automatically extended through 2008 this summer as part of a team policy not to have their GM endure a type of "lame-duck" status.

Mariners president Chuck Armstrong confirmed Wednesday — without commenting on specifics — that Bavasi is indeed already under contract for next season. Armstrong added that he isn't sure whether the team plans to issue any public statements on Bavasi's future before this season ends.

"I don't know that there's any need to announce anything," he said.

On the final day of last season, Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln declared that both Bavasi and manager Mike Hargrove were on his "hot seat" heading into 2007. A rumor this week had St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa supposedly interested in coming to Seattle if there was a managerial opening.

A second part that rumor is that Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty would possibly join La Russa here if Bavasi was not kept on. Armstrong shrugged off the rumor and said the Mariners have not even begun to focus on their plans for next season.

"We're just focused on finishing this year and this year's games," Armstrong said. "We have not talked about next year."

Lincoln declined to comment on anything regarding the team's plans for 2008.

Armstrong said it's possible the team could issue a statement about Bavasi and the future of manager John McLaren sometime before season's end. But he wasn't offering any guarantees, saying the issue hasn't been discussed by the team's top brass.

Best bat in the AL

Ichiro extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single to left field in the eighth inning, then hit another in the ninth to take over the American League lead with a .354 batting average. That's just ahead of the .353 mark held by Magglio Ordonez of the Detroit Tigers, who went hitless in a loss to Cleveland on Wednesday.

But while Ichiro admits to keeping track of Ordonez on television and by reading newspapers, he isn't monitoring the box scores daily.

"I do look at the news, but it's not like I have to do that," he said. "I'm watching a DVD right now that's more important than the newspaper."

Which DVD?

" 'Without a Trace,' " Ichiro said. "It's very interesting. I enjoy it a lot."

Burke is breathless

Mariners backup catcher Jamie Burke got the day-game start and wound up running the bases a lot more than he's used to. Burke singled in the second inning and was waved home all the way from first base on a double to left by Yuniesky Betancourt.

The throw from left fielder Shannon Stewart was off line.

Burke was on second after a sixth-inning double and was again waved home aggressively by third-base coach Carlos Garcia on a Betancourt single to left. Stewart's two-hopped throw beat Burke home but bounced away from catcher Rob Bowen.

"I don't know if I've scored from first base this year," Burke said. "It was fun, but it took me two innings to catch my breath afterwards.

"It's always fun to do that. Because usually I'm slow and can never score from anywhere but second."

Notes

• Mariners closer J.J. Putz pitched a scoreless ninth inning, after missing two games with a sore triceps muscle.

• Seattle's sweep of the A's was its first of any team in a month. The Mariners swept the White Sox in a three-game series from Aug. 17-19.

• The Mariners won eight of their nine games in Oakland this season and finished 14-5 on the year against the A's. Seattle went just 2-17 against the A's last season, and their 14 wins this year are an all-time high in games between the clubs.

• Ryan Feierabend, who starts tonight in Anaheim, is also to work one of the doubleheader games against Cleveland next week.

For the record