Bruce Bochy is signed through the 2007 season.

The deal was announced just before the Padres’ game against the Dodgers. Bochy is in the option year of a contract that had been set to expire at season’s end. His current salary is $1.3 million. Salaries for the extension weren’t immediately available.

“I’m glad I know I’m going to be here,” Bochy said following a 6-4 loss to the Dodgers. “I love the city, the fans. They have been great. I’m grateful of the confidence they are showing in me. Sandy showing confidence in me has been great.”

Bochy reportedly had agreed to a deal during spring training, but owner John Moores tabled it while hiring Sandy Alderson as chief executive officer. When Moores hired Alderson on April 19, the owner said Bochy’s fate would largely be decided by Alderson.

“Bruce, all during his career here, has been a very respected manager among his peers and within the game itself,” Alderson said Wednesday. “Everything I’ve seen from closer observation has reinforced that.”

Although they’ve lost 13 of 20 games this month, the Padres continue to lead the NL West by 4˝ games. Their jump into first place was spurred by Bochy’s clubhouse rant following an embarrassing 10-3 loss at San Francisco on April 27. The Padres won 24 of their next 30 games, including a 22-6 record in May, the most wins in a month in franchise history.

“He deserves it. Give him some players and he can win,” right fielder Brian Giles said.

Bochy was promoted from third base coach to manager on Oct. 21, 1994, and is 821-852 in 11 seasons. He led the Padres to division titles in 1996 and 1998, and to the World Series in 1998, where they were swept by the Yankees.

Bochy has been with the Padres organization for 23 cons seasons as a player, coach or manager. He was the backup catcher on the Padres team that lost the 1984 World Series to Detroit.

He also managed them through one of their roughest stretches, when they followed their 1998 World Series appearance with an ugly free-fall that included five consecutive losing seasons. The Padres stripped away payroll while waiting for their new downtown ballpark to be built, and tumbled to an NL-worst 64-98 in 2003, 36˝ games out of first place in the West.

“He’s always been good,” general manager Kevin Towers said. “I’ve always said that when you put a good product out on the field for Bruce, he’s a great manager and it shows a lot of his qualities. In years past, we haven’t had a lot to work with. I don’t think he’s had the best product out there, but he’s never complained once that we didn’t have the right players for him.”

Towers and Bochy were teammates in Triple-A in 1988. The following year, Bochy made his managing debut in Class A ball and Towers was his pitching coach.

His first season as Padres manager was 1995. Towers became the GM following that season.