MLB Notebook | Bud Selig to owners: Be wise on price

MILWAUKEE — Given the state of the U.S. economy, baseball commissioner Bud Selig warned team owners Saturday not to "get too cocky" and overprice game tickets.

"Because you do pay a price," Selig said.

In Seattle, the Mariners might be a step ahead. The team doesn't plan to raise ticket prices for next season, and it might even offer some cheaper seats in response to tough economic times.

However, one program that worked well for the team this year was designating seven games — against the Red Sox and Yankees — "premium games" that cost more to attend. Team president Chuck Armstrong said the organization is thinking of expanding that program.

A few other teams have said they don't plan to raise ticket prices, given the financial crisis that has been roiling Wall Street. The Oakland A's said they will keep ticket prices the same, and the Washington Nationals have said they will lower prices for some seats.

Speaking before Game 3 of the NL playoff series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers, Selig called 2008 a "phenomenal success" for baseball despite a decline in attendance that Selig attributed to bad weather and high gas prices.

But Selig acknowledged concern about a prolonged economic downturn.

Gillick is outta there

Philadelphia Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said last fall that he planned to leave the Phillies on Oct. 31 of this year, when his current three-year contract expires. That is still the plan, Gillick said Saturday.

"I haven't been home a lot in the last 10 years," said Gillick, whose wife stayed in the Seattle area after the Phillies hired him in 2005.

Gillick won two World Series titles as GM in Toronto and has nine division championships and 11 playoff appearances with four teams — the Blue Jays, Baltimore, Seattle and Philadelphia. Gillick said he doesn't have any plans yet for when he retires. But Gillick will be in Seattle, which is still in the market for a general manager after firing Bill Bavasi in June.

"I don't think so," the 71-year-old said when asked if he could see himself running another team.

Notes

• Red Sox ace Josh Beckett said Saturday he's ready to pitch in Game 3 of the best-of-five AL playoff series against Los Angeles. That means that if Angels lefty Joe Saunders is going to force a Game 4 on Monday, he'll have to do it against Beckett, one of the best postseason pitchers in baseball history.

• Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Torii Hunter, who hyperextended his left knee in Friday night's game, will be ready to go today. On the Boston side, third baseman Mike Lowell, who played in the first game but sat out the second, is planning to play in Game 3 (and any other games in the series). Right fielder J.D. Drew, who hit the game-winning homer in the ninth inning of Friday night's game, said he was still trying to figure out how his back would respond.