NEW YORK -- Baseball umpires filed a grievance Friday that accused management of violating their labor contract by refusing to provide information on a controversial computer system that analyzes ball-and-strike calls.

A day after owners sued the union in federal court in an attempt to discipline union president John Hirschbeck, union lawyer Larry Gibson said management wouldn't provide information about the Questec system and wouldn't hand over data it compiled on umpires.

"I'm really amazed that they picked this fight at this time,'' Gibson said, a reference to the threat of a players' strike and a lawsuit this week that accused commissioner Bud Selig of violating federal anti-racketeering laws. "Umpires had hoped to have a quiet, noncontroversial year. I guess the commissioner's office just didn't have enough controversy.''

Owners introduced the system on a trial basis and said they do not have to furnish information to the joint committee of umpires and management representatives until after the season.

Gibson said management had used the system in violation of the contract to evaluate umpires, citing the decision to choose Gerry Davis over Bruce Froemming for last week's All-Star game.

"They made an agreement that Questec would be considered in the joint committee process after the 2002 season,'' management lawyer Rob Manfred said. "Larry Gibson is not part of the joint committee, it is not after the 2002 season and they ought to read their agreements.''

This week's clashing is reminiscent of the repeated fights between management and the old umpires' union, Richie Philips' Major League Umpires Association, which was replaced 2½ years ago following a failed mass resignation.

The new union, the World Umpires Association, claims owners are violating the labor contract that was agreed to late in the 2000 season.

Last July, umpires filed a grievance accusing owners of violating the deal by evaluating plate umpires based on the amount of pitches per game, and owners backed off.

Now umpires claim the computer system does not accurately track pitches, especially breaking balls.

"We had an understanding this would be a test year, that at the end of the year the joint committee would evaluate it,'' Gibson said. "They started using it this year as an evaluative tool. We first started hearing from various supervisors, indicating that they're keeping numbers and statistics on people based on Questec. Then we started getting specific umpires getting critical comments based on Questec -- almost every one, when they went to a Questec city, they would get a call.''

In Thursday's lawsuit, owners said Hirschbeck told plate umpire Mark Carlson on April 28 not to warn Cincinnati's Gabe White for intentionally throwing at Barry Bonds.

In addition, the lawsuit said baseball's computerized umpire evaluation system showed "a high percentage of missed calls of balls and strikes'' by Hirschbeck during a May 4 game.

Management asked for a declaratory judgment that its attempt to discipline Hirschbeck was not subject to arbitration and for a permanent injunction preventing the union from taking the dispute to arbitration.