Magowan: No More Comments on Baker

Concerned about the status of Manager Dusty Baker becoming a distraction, the owner of the San Francisco Giants said Sunday he won’t comment on the situation for the remainder of the World Series.

Peter Magowan, managing general partner, stepped into the spotlight Saturday at Edison Field, saying a decision on General Manager Brian Sabean, who is expected to return, could come “a day or two” after the Giants’ final game, and that the managerial situation would be resolved “within a week.”

Speaking before Game 2, Magowan said he wants to keep the focus on the field.

“I’m done talking about it,” he said. “Even though I didn’t really want to talk about this the other day, I felt I owed it to the out-of-town [reporters] to talk about it one more time; not two more times or eight more times. I do think it is a distraction from the World Series and I hate to see that happen. To some extent, I have to admit that I’ve been part of the problem.

“I’m the one who said in spring training that we’ve got the best team we’ve had here and I want to wait and see how this team performs before we see who my general manager is and who my manager is. Dusty didn’t like that type of pressure being put on him and I thought it was fair. We had a difference of philosophy that I think was pretty important. I don’t know what else I can say.”

Baker was surprised Magowan plans to move quickly.

“I didn’t know he wanted to have a manager in place a week after the season. That’s kind of quick,” the three-time manager of the year said. “Plus, my contract calls for a 10-day [negotiating] clause after the season. But he’s the boss.”

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Trying to upgrade at third base, the Seattle Mariners traded David Bell to the Giants in January and acquired Jeff Cirillo from the Colorado Rockies.

Although Bell, who plays every infield position, was a steady contributor on a club that set an American League record with 116 victories, the Mariners believed Cirillo would make them better. They were wrong.

Cirillo batted .249 with six home runs and 54 runs batted in, and the Mariners missed the playoffs, finishing third in the AL West behind the Oakland Athletics and Angels. Bell had a big role in the Giants’ success, playing well defensively and batting .261 with 20 homers, 29 doubles and 73 RBIs as the Giants held off the Dodgers for the National League wild-card berth. Before Sunday, Bell was batting .357 in the postseason.

“This game is very unpredictable,” said Bell, a third-generation major leaguer. “When I came here, I knew this was a team with a real good chance. The Mariners have a great team there, but they’re just in a real competitive division.”

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First baseman J.T. Snow said he was “fine” a day after landing flat on his back on the synthetic warning track while making a sensational catch in the fifth inning.

“I’m perfect,” the six-time Gold Glove award winner said.

-- Jason Reid

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The Angels and Giants are headed to Pacific Bell Park for the next three games, making these the first World Series games played in San Francisco since the 1989 series at Candlestick Park that was interrupted by an earthquake.

“In ‘89, I was actually drinking a cup of coffee in the cafeteria in the clubhouse,” said Baker, who was a coach under Roger Craig at the time.

“Just sort of weird the way things started -- they didn’t really shake, they sort of flowed. It looked like Jell-O.”

He remembered the safety tips his daughter had learned during earthquake-awareness week at school and passed to him.

“She told me to get under a desk or something, or stand in a door well,” he said. “I went and stood in the door well, tried not to panic, stopped shaking.”

--J.A. Adande