TUCSON, Ariz. -- The last thing Mariners bench coach-turned-manager Ty Van Burkleo wanted Friday afternoon was an extra-inning Cactus League game against the D-backs.

The Mariners were playing a split-squad doubleheader, so there weren't a lot of extra players at his disposal. All the other available players were in Mesa, Ariz., for a game against the Cubs.

Besides that, this was the first game Van Burkleo had managed since 2000, when he was the hitting coach for El Paso of the Texas League.

That was a long time long ago but still memorable.

"The manager was suspended for four games for bumping an umpire. I won't throw the guy under the bus by giving you his name, but it wasn't Wak [Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu]."

El Paso won all four games, meaning he went into Friday's game with a nice little winning streak in the works -- one that lasted nearly nine years.

Well, that streak ended in Tucson, where the Mariners dropped a 14-6 Cactus League decision to the D-backs before 7,319 at Tucson Electric Park.

It was not one of those kind of games you ever look back on, but Van Burkleo did some reminiscing prior to the game.

A particular one took him back to 1999, his first season with El Paso. Wakamatsu was the manager of that team and was ejected from the game in third, as Van Burkleo recalled.

"John Patterson was our starting pitcher and couldn't get out of the third inning," Van Burkleo said. "Wak ended up getting thrown out early in the game, which became a slugfest that went into extra innings.

"It's like the seventh inning and our pitching coach gets thrown out, so now I am the only coach still in the game. Anyway, the game goes into extra innings with the score something like 12-12. I have no pitching left and I'm on my own."

Van Burkleo paused, shook his head, and continued.

"We're the home team and I have this poor kid out on the mound getting hammered. He could not get an out. Finally, I went out there and told the kid, 'You're all right.' He says, 'No I'm not.' I had to keep him in the game and his ERA just kept climbing. But he finally got out of the inning. We were so many runs behind."

As the hitting coach in the Angels organization from 2001-06 and the Athletics the past two seasons, Van Burkleo never managed another game -- until Friday.

"I don't think you are looking at the second coming of Casey Stengel," he said, jokingly. "I'm just going to have some fun and do what I can with the limited amount of bodies I have because of the split-squad."

Seasoned National League coach Lee Tinsley (former D-backs first-base coach) was here to assist in any double-switch managerial moves.

"I don't want to deplete the bench and have someone get hurt," Van Burkleo said. "I think we have nine extra position players."

The matter of giving signs was another focal point for the skipper-for-a-day.

Van Burkleo has been so busy making sure camp runs smoothly -- he's the camp coordinator -- he hasn't paid much attention to the signs Wakamatsu always gives to third-base coach Bruce Hines.

"I'm a little bit clumsy with the signs right now," Van Burkleo said. "I basically asked Wak last night to give me some tips on that."

Signs never really came into play in Friday's game.

The Mariners jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning but fell behind for good in the third when the D-backs sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five runs.

On the bright side, Seattle plays three other split-squad doubleheaders -- against the Dodgers and Indians on Monday; Cubs and Padres on Thursday day/night; and Rangers and Dodgers on March 24, also a day/night twin bill.