The Associated Press

SEATTLE - The Seattle Mariners said Monday they are open to letting teams interview manager Lou Piniella and will release him from the final year of his contract if adequate compensation can be arranged.

Piniella told Mariners officials last Friday in a meeting in Tampa, Fla., that "for personal and family reasons," he had decided not to return to Seattle for the 2003 season.

Piniella has managed the Mariners for 10 seasons, directing a perennial no-name team to three consecutive playoff appearances before this season and a record-tying 116 victories in 2001.

Piniella met with Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln, president Chuck Armstrong and general manager Pat Gillick.

So far, no other teams have contacted Seattle, the team said in a statement. But "in view of his long service to the Mariners," the team will entertain contact from interested clubs and seek to negotiate "reasonable compensation" in exchange for releasing him.

"If appropriate compensation is agreed upon," the Mariners will let the club interview Piniella for a manager position and, if he takes the job, will release him from his contract.

"Lou said his decision was motivated solely by personal and family reasons," including the distance between Seattle and his family home in Tampa, and had "nothing to do with baseball," the team said.

"While the Mariners regret Lou's decision, we understand his family situation and his need to reside and work closer to home."

The statement said the team would have no further comment on what was discussed at the meeting in Tampa. The final year of Piniella's $6.8 million contract is worth $2.5 million.

Mariners officials "understand what I'm trying to do," Piniella told the Tampa Tribune. "It's just too far to be in Seattle. It's a burden on me, on my family. It's just too far from home."

The New York Mets or Tampa Bay Devil Rays are mentioned as the most likely candidates to lure Piniella, who lives in the Tampa Bay area during the offseason. His parents and grandchildren also live there.

LCS RATINGS UP: Ratings for the first four days of baseball's league championship series were up 13 percent from last year.

Fox's coverage averaged a 7.1 rating and 12 share, up from a 6.3 rating and 12 share for the comparable period last year, Nielsen Media Research said.

Anaheim's 2-1 victory over Minnesota in Game 3 on Friday night received a 6.4/12, down 3 percent from the comparable game last year, Arizona's 5-1 win over Atlanta.

National ratings from the weekend games will not be available until Tuesday.

St. Louis' 5-4 win over San Francisco In Game 3 on Saturday afternoon got a 5.8/12 overnight rating in 53 major markets, down 16 percent from Seattle's 14-3 rout of the New York Yankees in the comparable time slot last year. Fox attributed the drop to increased competition from college football on other networks.

Anaheim's 7-1 win in Game 4 Saturday night got a 6.9/12 overnight, up 10 percent from the 6.3/11 for Arizona's 11-4 win in the comparable slot in 2001.

The Angels' pennant-clinching 13-5 win Sunday got a 7.1/13 overnight. Last year, Fox aired NFL coverage in that time slot.

San Francisco's 4-3 win Sunday night received an 8.0/13 overnight, down 35 percent from the split coverage last year of the Yankees' 3-1 win and Arizona's pennant-clinching 3-2 victory.

The rating is the percentage of television households in the United States tuned to a program, and each point represents 1,067,000 homes. The share is the percentage watching a program among those households with televisions on at the time.

CARDINALS: St. Louis pitcher Garrett Stephenson struck an unruly fan outside the Cardinals team bus following Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, San Francisco police said.

No arrests were made, but a report was filed, according to police Lt. Don Carlson.

"No one was arrested or will be arrested," Carlson said. "It's now in the hands of the district attorney."

The most serious potential charge would be battery, a low-level misdemeanor, Carlson said.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Stephenson only shoved the fan, who wasn't injured.

A stadium security guard who witnessed it Sunday night told police that the fan, David Richardson, 35, of South San Francisco, was pounding on the bus, making obscene gestures and yelling profanities at players and their families as the bus was halfway out of the parking lot at Pacific Bell Park.

"This was a guy who had really, really gone over the edge as far as the vulgarity and the things he was saying," La Russa said. "I'm very pleased that Garrett told him to give it a rest to the ladies on this bus and (tell him) he should shut his mouth."

Stephenson got off the bus, confronted Richardson and "struck him with an open hand," Carlson said.

OH'S RECORD TIED: Alex Cabrera finished the regular season tied for the Japanese home run record.

Cabrera, a former Arizona Diamondback who plays for the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League, tied the record of 55 last week.

The Venezuelan matched Yomiuri Giants slugger Sadaharu Oh's mark, set in 1964 and tied by Western Hills High graduate and former Boston Red Sox outfielder Tuffy Rhodes a year ago.

"It is disappointing I could not break the home run record," Cabrera said.

ASTROS: Catcher Gregg Zaun had surgery to repair a partially torn tendon in his right elbow. Zaun hit .222 with three home runs and 24 RBIs in 76 games last season, his first with Houston. He missed the first 98 games of 2002 after injuring his calf during spring training.

Zaun, 31, is expected to be out four months, so he should be healthy for the start of spring training in February.