BASEBALL . . . INTENTIONAL PASS?

Major league baseball team owners today abandoned their announced plans to put in place the controversial cap on players' salaries. Instead, owners voted 25-3 to take seven days to try to reach a negotiated settlement with players to avoid starting the next season with replacement players. Players were set to start a lengthy legal battle as early as tomorrow over the cap -- a near-complete makeover for baseball's business side that would do away with the salary arbitration and free agency players fought for and won 20 years ago.