DALY: `I BELIEVE WE'LL MAKE A DEAL' DODGERS CHAIRMAN SPEAKS OUT ON STRIKE.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

PHOENIX - Dodgers chairman Bob Daly said Wednesday he didn't think Major League Baseball players should or would strike, but if the players association set a strike date he believed a labor stoppage would follow.

Attempting to show a united ownership front before the players association executive board meets Monday in Chicago, the long-standing gag order issued by baseball commissioner Bud Selig was lifted.

``I don't think they should strike,'' Daly said via telephone. ``I think they should have confidence enough to sit down and make a deal. Eventually, the two sides have to make a deal.

``I think setting a deadline would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. To me, the deadline they should be scheduling is a deadline for more meetings. It shouldn't be if they're setting a deadline of Sept. 1. I think it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don't think a strike will solve anything.''

Though officials and players continually point to a mid-August deadline for having a new collective-bargaining agreement in place, Arizona pitcher Rick Helling said he didn't believe a date would be set.

``I'm sure we won't (set a date). There's going to be serious discussions about it, but the indication is they're going to be going over the latest information,'' said Helling, who is serving a two-year term as American League player rep. ``As a player, we're not trying to get more. We're just trying to hold on to what we have.''

Union chief Donald Fehr said no decision has been made on setting a strike date, and he was perturbed at ownership's timing of public remarks about the labor situation.

``It's not a very productive way to try and reach an agreement,'' Fehr said. ``They're not interested in doing a deal in the short term, the next couple of days. What we will do (in Monday's meeting) is update the players on all aspects of the bargaining.''

Daly, former studio boss of Warner Bros. and ex-president of CBS Entertainment, said the labor situation is bigger than the Dodgers. The club's first-place standing would not affect his belief that the competitive-balance issue needs a resolution.

However, Daly seemed frustrated negotiations were moving slowly, if at all. He said in the entertainment industry, labor-management conflicts were solved by locking both sides in a room until a deal was reached.

But with players involved in negotiations and also playing games in cities across the country, scheduling negotiating sessions is difficult. The next meeting between Fehr and baseball's team of negotiators is scheduled for next Thursday.

``I believe we will make a deal,'' Daly said. ``I believe we well reach an agreement and there won't be a strike.''

Daly echoed the sentiments during a January 2000 meeting in which owners voted 30-0 in favor of working toward competitive balance. To that, Selig threatened the contraction of two teams and said it is mandatory to have a luxury tax that would even the landscape for small-market teams.

``It's a no-win situation until we get something settled,'' Dodgers catcher and player rep Paul Lo Duca said. ``Everybody loses, but we're going to stand our ground. If we have to (strike), we will.''

There have been eight work stoppages since 1972. The last one, which came in 1994, forced the cancellation of the playoffs.

``I think a strike, if we have one like the last one in which they canceled the playoffs, I think it would set baseball back a long time,'' Daly said. ``Can it recover? Sure, it can recover. But look at the last time. We had Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa put baseball back on the map.

``I do think (another strike) would be a real hard blow for baseball. I think the players would be losers, owners would be loser and the fans would be the biggest losers. Fans aren't going to take sides. They're going to blame everybody. Fans will say don't do this to me.''

Daly said he couldn't imagine what would happen if there was no baseball on Sept. 11, the first-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks that forced the postponement of baseball games for six days. The Dodgers are scheduled to host San Francisco in an afternoon game, and in conjunction with Major League Baseball are planning a series of events commemorating the day.