Selig: Changes Coming

Acting commissioner Bud Selig vowed a crackdown on delaying tactics in baseball next season, saying Saturday he thought 20 to 25 minutes could be trimmed from the average game time.

“We need to quit talking about it. We need to do something,” Selig said on the field before Game 6 of the World Series.

Selig has criticized batters for stepping out all the time and pitchers for circling the mound between pitches. The first six games of the Series - none of which went extra innings - took 3:19, 2:48, 4:12, 3:15, 3:39 and 3:15. Their average of 3:13 is just slightly faster than the record of 3:20, set by the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets in 1986.

In June 1995, former A.L. umpire Steve Palermo presented owners with recommendations to speed up the game, but their effect has been slight to none.

“There will be a change next year,” Selig said. “This is one of those rare situations in life where everybody benefits.”

Selig said he did not think the umpires or players would object to changes. However, the players’ association in the past has said any change must be gradual.

Grateful Seitzer thanks Hargrove

The highlight of Kevin Seitzer’s 11-year career was a grounder to third in the ninth inning of Game 6.

Seitzer, retiring after the season, got his first World Series at-bat as a pinch-hitter in the ninth Saturday.

“I went up and shook Mike Hargrove’s hand and said, ‘Thanks, you just made my career,”’ Seitzer said of his manager.

Seitzer, who has a career average above .400 as a pinch-hitter, decided to play one final season for a chance to play in the World Series.

“There will be no loser’s tomorrow,” Seitzer said to today’s Game 7.

Big Unit is staying put

Trade Randy Johnson? That’s not a consideration, insist the Seattle Mariners in denying a report that their ace pitcher might be dealt.

“Randy is as much of an untouchable as anyone on the team,” assistant general manager Lee Pelekoudas told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “We have not even discussed a trade that would involve him or anyone else.”

The Seattle Times on Friday reported that Johnson, who is entering the final year of his contract, might be traded before the 1998 season - a move that would enable the team to fill other needs and prevent Johnson from leaving as a free agent without the Mariners getting something in return.

“There are no moves planned at this time because we don’t have our (player payroll) budget,” Pelekoudas said. “When we get it, possibly within a week, we’ll go from there.”

The Times also reported the Mariners tried to get Johnson, 34, to agree to a contract extension before the club exercised the option year of his contract in September.

“It never happened,” Pelekoudas said.

Johnson has said he will leave all negotiations about his future to his agent, Barry Meister.

“I do want to stay, but I’ve learned that nothing is certain,” Johnson said after the Mariners were knocked out of the playoffs by the Baltimore Orioles. “We have some unfinished business in Seattle.”

If Mariners ownership gives general manager Woody Woodward a significant payroll boost, the team is expected to pursue John Olerud, a free agent who played for the New York Mets this year.

Sources close to the Mets said Olerud, a former Washington State star, has told friends he would like to finish his career with the Mariners.

Leyland headed to Chicago?

No one in south Florida will be surprised if Marlins manager Jim Leyland doesn’t return. Leyland was stunned when Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga put the team up for sale, and he has little interest in managing the club if there will be drastic cuts in the payroll.

Leyland’s wife hates south Florida and took their kids back to Pittsburgh during the summer. Leyland spent many nights sleeping in the clubhouse at Pro Player Stadium.

With White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, a longtime friend, looking for a replacement for the fired Terry Bevington, don’t be surprised if Leyland winds up in Chicago

Butler blasts umpires

Outfielder Brett Butler, who retired from the Dodgers after coming back from throat cancer, said he’d like to remain in the game in some capacity.

Butler recently made a statement on the need for uniform standards for umpires, whose widely varied strike zones and blown calls became an embarrassing factor in this postseason.

“The first thing I’d like to be involved in is some kind of umpire rating,” Butler said. “There’s no accountability for umpires. Players are accountable, managers are accountable, but there’s no accountability for umpires.

“If you’re an umpire, you’re an umpire for life. I’d like to get something regulated that if you don’t do your job, you’re gone. I talked a lot about it with Eddie Murray, and I’m trying to get him involved, too. I don’t think players can actually say how they feel about the umpiring aspect because they think they would be blackballed. But over the last 17 years, umpiring has changed radically.”

Boone’s glove was golden

Bret Boone wasn’t stunned that the National League Gold Glove for second base went to Houston’s Craig Biggio, but the Reds second baseman had a right to be.

Biggio made 18 errors in 863 chances, a .979 fielding percentage that ranked sixth in the N.L. at his position. Boone, meanwhile, is sending his glove to the Hall of Fame. Boone set a record for players with at least 100 games at second base, making just two errors in 607 chances over 136 games.

His .997 fielding percentage broke Bobby Grich’s 12-year-old record.

“I had been preparing for this,” Boone said of not winning the award. “I’m not going to say if it’s fair or not.”