AMERICAN LEAGUE: AROUND THE HORN SUZUKI MAD AT JAPANESE REPORTERS.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - In a Sports Illustrated article early in the season, the Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki was asked what was the toughest thing about baseball in the United States. Suzuki's answer:

The Japanese media.

In Japan, reporters are never allowed in the clubhouse and any quotes they might get are normally distributed on paper through the media-relations department. Here, Japanese reporters are allowed more freedom with the players at the ballpark.

Those Japanese reporters generally have been respectful in their new surroundings, but the recent incident involving Suzuki at his home in the Seattle area has caused him and his Mariners teammate Kazuhiro Sasaki to boycott all Japanese media.

As Suzuki was backing his car out of the driveway, Japanese photographers stood behind the car and took pictures.

That brought on the boycott.

Japanese baseball reporters said it was unfair the players lumped them in with tabloid-type publications, comparing the photographers to those one might find at the National Enquirer.

``Each country has good media and bad media,'' Hideki Okuda, who covers the Mariners for Sports Nippon, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. ``The bad media do bad things, but why do we have to take responsibility for that? We (the everyday reporters in the press box) are basically baseball media. We never follow Ichiro's private life.''

Suzuki would not comment on the ban, but Sasaki did, and he said it was not possible to draw a line between the ethical reporters and those who follow the players' every move away from the ballpark.

``To Ichiro and I, if they write for a newspaper or a magazine or if they are a cameraman or whatever they are, they are all the same group,'' Sasaki said. ``It is unfortunate for those who are just covering baseball, but if they can't just do the simple thing of giving us our privacy, for now, we're just going to have to stop answering to all the Japanese media.

--Trade talk: With the New York Mets hovering near the bottom of the National League East, pitcher Al Leiter is drawing interest from a few American League clubs.

The Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Mariners are believed to be interested in trading for Leiter, 35, who has won three World Series rings (1992 and '93 with the Blue Jays and 1997 with the Marlins).

Leiter, though, has a limited no-trade clause in his contract. Among the three teams, the Mets can trade Leiter only to the Red Sox without his approval.

--Going, going ...: It's looking more and more like Jason Giambi will test free agency at the end of the season, unless the Oakland Athletics trade him first. Until recently, the major holdup between Giambi and the A's was the no-trade clause Giambi requested.

Since the A's have refused, Giambi and his agent, Arn Tellem, say any future negotiations would have to start from scratch. The proposed six- year, $90 million deal has been shelved.

``All I can say is that given that they were not willing to give Jason a no-trade clause, they didn't treat him like a hometown player, so there is no hometown discount,'' Tellem told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves and Red Sox have shown the most interest in trading for Giambi.

--Finally for Finley: It took 16 years of professional baseball, but Chuck Finley will reach Double-A ball today for the first time.

He will pitch for the Akron Aeros, the Indians' Double-A affiliate in a rehab assignment. Finley has been out six weeks because of an inflamed disc in his upper back, the longest stint on the DL in his career.

And because Finley made the jump from Single-A to the Angels' big-league club in 1986, he has never pitched in Double-A or Triple-A.

He's expected to make just the one rehab start for Akron before rejoining the Indians and starting Friday or Saturday.