OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) _ The Oakland Athletics headed into the offseason with a sense of satisfaction. The Seattle Mariners headed into the winter with a lot of unanswered questions.

The A's completed their first winning season since 1992 and wrapped up the AL's best home record with a 3-1 win over the Mariners on Sunday. Ron Mahay pitched five strong innings in his first major league start and combined with four relievers on a four-hitter as the A's finished 52-29 at home and 87-75 overall.

``We really pitched well all season. We didn't have any big-name guys in our rotation,'' A's manager Art Howe said. ``Coming in to the year, people looked at our rotation and that's probably why they picked us to finish last in our division.''

The Mariners finished 79-83, winning three more games than in 1998 but ending up in third place in the AL West and with a losing record for the second straight year.

And it could be a tumultuous offseason for the Mariners. They'll be looking for a replacement for retiring general manager Woody Woodward and will have to decide what to do about Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez, both of whom have contracts expiring at the end of next season.

If the team can't re-sign those two superstars, it might decide to trade them during the winter when their trade values are at a maximum.

``I haven't thought about leaving, it just hasn't entered my mind yet. I have a job next year, somewhere, where it is I'm not worried,'' Griffey said. ``Where I play isn't my worry right now. I just want to spend time with my kids.''

Rodriguez sounded less confident about being back in Seattle.

``It's the last day and I'm kind of sad about it, I may be leaving. It's really up to them,'' he said. ``It's a sad day for me personally. I came here as a young man and left as a grown man.''

Griffey who made out the Mariners' lineup for the season finale, had an RBI single in the third before leaving the game at the end of that inning. He finished the season with a .285 average, an AL-leading 48 homers and 134 RBIs in 160 games.

``I thought about pitching,'' Griffey said with a smile, ``but then I decided (starter John) Halama had to hit and he didn't want to do that.''

Outfielder Jay Buhner coached at first base for one inning for the Mariners.

``It was Junior's lineup today, he made it up all himself,'' Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. ``Unfortunately, it counts on my record.''

Randy Velarde had an RBI double in the fifth for the A's, making him the sixth major league player to have 200 hits in a season while playing for more than one team. Velarde was traded from Anaheim to the A's on July 29.

``The 199th seemed a lot easier to get than this one,'' Velarde said. ``The 3,000th hit is a lot different than the 200th, but I can just imagine what (Wade) Boggs and (Tony) Gwynn went through this year.''

Mahay (2-0) allowed one run on three hits. His streak of 21 straight batters retired, a season high by an A's pitcher, ended when Rafael Bournigal singled with one out in the third to become Seattle's first baserunner of the game.

Jason Isringhausen pitched the ninth for Oakland for his eighth save.

Halama (11-10), who lost his last five decisions, allowed three runs on nine hits in five innings. The rookie left-hander won nine straight decisions to improve his record to 9-2 in early August, but struggled in the final two months of the season.

Notes: Mike Macfarlane, playing his final major league game, went 0-for-2 for the A's before leaving the game after the fourth inning. He announced Friday he is retiring after 13 seasons with Kansas City, Boston and Oakland. ... The teams split the 12-game season series. ... Jason Giambi went 2-for-4 for the A's but did not drive in a run, leaving him one short of the Oakland season record of 124 RBIs set by Jose Canseco in 1988.