Owners, players meet into the night

NEW YORK -- Just four days before baseball players were scheduled to strike, the sides stopped their public posturing and instead devoted Monday to a series of meetings that went on into the night.

Owners made small steps to the union in their latest offer Sunday, and it appeared the next move was up to the players' association, which didn't immediately respond to the new proposal.

The sides met Monday afternoon, again in the evening and discussed having a late-night meeting. Negotiators, who took pointed jabs at each other in public comments after exchanging proposals last weekend, were suddenly silent.

"We had some informal conversations, that's it," Gene Orza, the union's No. 2 official, said without disclosing any details.

Some players thought a faction of hardline owners still doubted players would go through with their strike, scheduled to start with Friday's games.

"I don't know if they think we're bluffing," Los Angeles Dodgers player representative Paul Lo Duca said. "We never have before."

Time was running short for a settlement that would prevent baseball's ninth work stoppage since 1972.

"My sentiment hasn't changed -- I'm an optimist by nature," New York Yankees player representative Mike Stanton said. "There are proposals from both sides and concessions from both sides. Albeit small, a concession is a concession."

"There's been a good dialogue," Boston's Tony Clark, the AL player representative, said Monday night.

Negotiators spent the day discussing the key economic issues, one management official said, speaking on the condition he not be identified.