STRAWBERRY HEADED TO DRUG TREATMENT CENTER

Darryl Strawberry checked out of a hospital psychiatric ward in Tampa,
Fla., Monday and was on his way to a drug treatment center that a
judge says will be his home for the next two years.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's records show that Strawberry was
released shortly after 4 p.m. to be transferred to Phoenix House, a
residential treatment center about 16 miles northeast of Ocala.

On Thursday, Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge Florence Foster
sentenced Strawberry to drug treatment instead of prison. Strawberry
had been on house arrest and electronic monitoring at a Tampa drug
center when he left for a four-day drug binge March 29.

Strawberry, 39, surfaced four days later and checked himself into the
psychiatric ward at St. Joseph's Hospital. Doctors there said the
former New York Yankees slugger was suicidal and possibly suffers from
a bipolar disorder that had not been detected.

After undergoing treatment with a series of medications, Strawberry
told Foster he was committed to beating his drug habit and asked to be
sent to Phoenix House. The treatment center mostly handles drug
offenders in Florida's criminal justice system, although it has no
bars, locks or fences.