ALL-STAR GAME : Clouds Obscure the Stars : Baseball: The threat of a player strike overshadows tonight’s annual game between the major leagues.

PITTSBURGH —  They will play the 65th All-Star game at Three Rivers Stadium tonight, but a gulf wider than the Ohio, Allegheny or Monongahela continues to separate baseball’s owners and players.

Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves and Jimmy Key of the New York Yankees were selected to start for the National and American leagues as the teams worked out Monday amid a darkening labor situation.

The union’s executive board, made up of players from each of the 28 teams, did not set a strike date during a five-hour meeting here Monday, but Executive Director Don Fehr said three-fourths of the clubs--with the others yet to vote--have given virtually unanimous strike authorization.

In separate news conferences, Fehr and Richard Ravitch, the owners’ chief negotiator, seemed to paint a bleak outlook regarding completion of the season.

Ravitch said the owners “cannot and will not” continue under the current economic system and that a salary cap linked to increased revenue sharing by the clubs is the “most sensible” answer.

He said baseball “will be in a hell of a mess” if there is no bargaining agreement by Nov. 1 and insisted the owners will not give up their right to ultimately declare an impasse and implement the salary cap.

Fehr reiterated that a cap will restrict salaries, transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from players to owners over the proposed seven years, destroy free agency, eliminate arbitration--at least under the owners’ proposal--and inhibit competitive balance because decisions will be made by accountants rather than general managers.

He said the owners have yet to make a persuasive enough case that an industry with revenue of $1.9 billion has the types of problems that have to be resolved with a salary cap.

He challenged the owners to ease their alleged problems by changing their revenue-sharing formula without linking it to a cap.

“They won’t do that because the big clubs want the players to pay them back (under a salary cap) for helping out the smaller clubs,” he said.

A strike, he insisted, is a last resort, but a strike represents the players’ only leverage against the owners’ declaration of an impasse.

The dates that the players seem to be considering most seriously are Aug. 16 and Sept. 2.

“This should be an exciting, vibrant, good time for everybody,” Fehr said. “It’s been a phenomenal year with several players setting a record pace, attendance projecting to more than 70 million again and a new playoff format starting in October.

“We shouldn’t be sitting at the All-Star game talking about a collective bargaining agreement that doesn’t appear headed for resolution. No one wants this. No one wants the fans to sit through another work stoppage, but any fan who has followed the last 18 months (while the players waited for the owners’ proposal) understands that this is not a fight of the players’ choosing.

“I have never seen a situation in which a day after the owners finally make their proposal, their chief negotiator is predicting a strike.

“I mean, there’s a pattern to it, and I think it’s obvious that some management people still believe they can break the union and hope to provoke a strike, but the players won’t be provoked until there’s no other option.”

The players have not formally rejected the salary cap, but their own proposals, which they will probably make Thursday or Friday in New York, are designed to maintain the status quo rather than open avenues of negotiation within a cap concept, sources said.

“I hope that’s not the case,” Ravitch said.

“I hope the union is responsive to our underlying needs. The owners will lose between $125 million and $150 million this year. The disparity in revenue among the clubs is becoming greater.

“There is no alternative to the owners’ need to change the system. It would be an act of self-immolation on the part of the union to strike for a long time, thinking the owners will capitulate as they have in the past. It won’t happen this time.”

As Ravitch and Fehr discussed the possibility of an eighth work stoppage in the eight negotiations since 1972, National League manager Jim Fregosi of the Philadelphia Phillies was selecting Dodger catcher Mike Piazza to bat cleanup between Barry Bonds and Matt Williams in a lineup he hopes will end the American’s six-game winning streak.

Why Piazza in cleanup?

“He’s Italian,” Fregosi said, adding, “Of all our guys, I think he’s having the best all-around year from an average, power and production standpoint, so I thought it would be a compliment.”

Piazza took it that way.

“It’ll be cool, a good experience,” he said. “This will be a crash course if I ever hit cleanup for the Dodgers.”

Piazza, who has hit 21 homers and driven in 76 runs, simply crashed again in Monday’s home run contest. He went without one for the second consecutive year as the AL won it, with Ken Griffey Jr. hitting seven out.

The American League lineup features Griffey, with 33 homers and 69 RBIs, batting third and Frank Thomas, with a .383 average, 32 homers and 78 RBIs, batting fourth.

Griffey, Thomas and Williams have led this summer of record paces, but Maddux and Key have managed to balance the books. Maddux is 11-5 with a 1.80 earned-run average in his bid for athird consecutive Cy Young award, and Key is 13-2 with a 3.31 ERA.

All-Star Statistics

AMERICAN LEAGUE STARTERS FIRST BASE

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS Thomas, Chi .383 .515 303 93 116 27 1 32 78 84 42 0 3 SECOND BASE Alomar, Tor .313 .382 297 60 93 19 2 7 35 33 31 16 4 THIRD BASE Boggs, Bos .331 .430 272 48 90 13 1 9 41 49 24 1 1 SHORTSTOP Ripken, Bal .306 .357 337 57 103 17 1 12 65 27 33 1 0 OUTFIELD Carter, Tor .270 .315 318 51 86 21 2 19 80 24 41 5 0 Griffey, Sea .329 .407 337 72 111 17 4 33 69 43 53 7 3 Puckett, Min .321 .359 340 60 109 24 1 14 81 17 37 5 2 CATCHER Rodriguez, Tex .305 .376 262 43 80 16 1 11 41 24 35 5 2

Player, Team E Thomas, Chi 7 SECOND BASE Alomar, Tor 4 THIRD BASE Boggs, Bos 10 SHORTSTOP Ripken, Bal 6 OUTFIELD Carter, Tor 1 Griffey, Sea 3 Puckett, Min 2 CATCHER Rodriguez, Tex 3

AMERICAN LEAGUE RESERVES

INFIELD

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS Clark, Tex .353 .449 303 63 107 23 2 13 78 55 43 4 1 Cooper, Bos .292 .341 298 44 87 15 4 13 50 24 51 0 2 Fryman, Det .285 .338 355 47 101 28 3 13 64 29 99 2 2 Knoblauch, Min .320 .377 338 63 108 37 3 4 45 27 37 27 3 Molitor, Tor .342 .415 339 61 116 25 2 9 54 43 36 16 0

Player, Team E Clark, Tex 7 Cooper, Bos 13 Fryman, Det 8 Knoblauch, Min 2 Molitor, Tor 0

OUTFIELD

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS E Belle, Cle .357 .445 325 70 116 32 1 25 76 50 52 8 6 4 Davis, Cal .340 .440 297 59 101 17 1 17 61 55 62 1 1 0 Lofton, Cle .378 .443 341 82 129 24 7 10 43 42 40 45 10 1 O’Neill, NY .382 .475 275 51 105 16 1 16 62 50 45 4 3 0 Sierra, Oak .261 .287 337 54 88 14 1 19 75 15 52 5 3 8

CATCHER

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS Tettleton, Det .264 .429 258 48 68 14 2 14 41 72 70 0 1

Player, Team E Tettleton, Det 3

PITCHERS

Player, Team W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB SO Alvarez, Chi 10 4 3.63 18 18 0 116.2 111 53 47 11 49 78 Bere, Chi 9 2 3.56 18 18 0 111.1 87 49 44 10 67 94 Bones, Mil 7 7 3.34 18 18 0 132.0 127 58 49 14 37 39 Cone, KC 12 4 2.88 18 18 0 134.1 99 46 43 14 41 95 Hentgen, Tor 11 5 3.16 18 18 0 131.0 117 51 46 13 39 112 Johnson, Sea 10 4 3.09 18 18 0 134.0 100 48 46 10 57 150 a-Key, NY 13 2 3.31 19 19 0 127.2 130 50 47 8 38 72 Mussina, Bal 13 4 2.96 19 19 0 140.0 130 48 46 16 30 83 Smith, Bal 1 2 2.25 34 0 29 32.0 25 10 8 4 6 37

NATIONAL LEAGUE STARTERS

FIRST BASE

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS Jefferies, StL .330 .405 288 36 95 21 1 9 39 38 21 8 4 SECOND BASE Duncan, Phi .265 .310 291 39 77 20 1 6 43 17 60 9 1 THIRD BASE Williams, SF .251 .310 335 54 84 7 3 33 69 28 65 0 0 SHORTSTOP Smith, StL .240 .309 279 32 67 8 3 3 25 29 22 4 3 OUTFIELD Bonds, SF .280 .405 293 60 82 12 1 23 54 58 35 18 6 x-Dykstra, Phi .296 .414 250 59 74 25 3 5 20 50 34 11 3 y-Gwynn, SD .383 .447 308 61 118 23 1 9 49 37 16 5 0 Justice, Atl .344 .457 256 45 88 14 2 13 44 52 31 2 2 CATCHER Piazza, LA .325 .364 320 51 104 13 0 21 76 21 53 0 2

Player, Team E Jefferies, StL 4 SECOND BASE Duncan, Phi 10 THIRD BASE Williams, SF 4 SHORTSTOP Smith, StL 5 OUTFIELD Bonds, SF 3 x-Dykstra, Phi 4 y-Gwynn, SD 0 Justice, Atl 8 CATCHER Piazza, LA 9

NATIONAL LEAGUE RESERVES

INFIELD

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS Bagwell, Hou .348 .425 305 74 106 22 2 27 82 46 51 10 3 Biggio, Hou .320 .402 337 65 108 35 4 5 42 43 50 25 3 Caminiti, Hou .291 .352 302 50 88 22 2 17 58 28 55 3 3 Conine, Fla .313 .372 339 45 106 20 4 14 64 33 60 1 2 Garcia, Pit .267 .307 307 34 82 9 1 3 20 14 55 13 8 x-Larkin, Cin .286 .376 325 57 93 16 3 6 39 49 44 21 2 McGriff, Atl .310 .385 323 59 100 21 1 23 63 40 57 4 3 z-Cordero, Mon .306 .375 320 53 98 23 3 13 48 32 48 13 1

Player, Team E Bagwell, Hou 7 Biggio, Hou 6 Caminiti, Hou 6 Conine, Fla 5 Garcia, Pit 9 x-Larkin, Cin 8 McGriff, Atl 6 z-Cordero, Mon 18

OUTFIELD

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS Alou, Mon .331 .402 320 62 106 23 1 18 59 39 47 5 5 Bichette, Col .303 .328 373 59 113 26 1 21 77 12 57 18 7 z-Grissom, Mon .281 .341 359 73 101 22 3 6 32 33 56 30 6

Player, Team E Alou, Mon 2 Bichette, Col 2 z-Grissom, Mon 4

CATCHER

Player, Team AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR BI BB SO SB CS E Fletcher, Mon .289 .342 225 23 65 13 1 10 49 20 15 0 0 1

PITCHERS

Player, Team W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB SO z-Beck, SF 2 4 3.48 34 0 18 33.2 33 14 13 9 7 25 Drabek, Hou 10 5 3.07 18 18 0 132.0 111 49 45 12 34 101 Hill, Mon 13 3 3.27 18 18 0 121.0 116 47 44 8 37 78 Hudek, Hou 0 1 1.97 33 0 15 32.0 18 8 7 3 12 34 Jackson, Phi 11 3 3.33 19 19 0 135.1 142 56 50 11 38 97 Jones, Phi 2 3 2.40 37 0 21 41.1 43 11 11 2 5 29 a-Maddux, Atl 11 5 1.80 19 19 0 150.0 116 35 30 3 28 118 Myers, Chi 1 4 3.48 29 0 17 31.0 31 13 12 2 12 27 x-Rijo, Cin 8 4 3.06 20 20 0 129.1 135 57 44 12 42 123 Saberhagen, NY 10 4 3.15 18 18 0 128.2 126 48 45 12 10 104

a-starting pitcher

x-injured, will not play

y-replaces Dykstra in starting lineup

z-injury replacement