BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : U.S. Help Offered in Negotiations

U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich met separately last week with the lead negotiators for baseball players and owners, and the Clinton Administration said Monday it is willing to assist in the stalled talks.

Steve Rosenthal, an associate deputy secretary of labor, said Reich had met with union head Donald Fehr and management negotiator Richard Ravitch last week in New York.

Eugene Orza, the associate general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players Assn., said the union was willing to talk with the Labor Department but not let any outside party impose a settlement.

The Oakland Athletics put first baseman Mark McGwire on the 15-day disabled list and recalled outfielder Ernie Young from triple-A Tacoma.

McGwire has a muscle pull in his left heel. It is his second stint on the disabled list--he sat out 43 games from April 30-June 17--and his third in the last two seasons.

McGwire was batting .252 in 47 games with nine home runs and 25 runs batted in.

Minor leaguer Giomar Guevara hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving the Seattle Mariners a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the annual Hall of Fame exhibition in Cooperstown, N.Y.