POLICE: STRAWBERRY SAID HE WAS JOKING WHEN HE ASKED OFFICER FOR DRUGS, SEX

Darryl Strawberry begged police officers to let him go minutes after
he brazenly asked a Tampa, Fla., undercover officer for drugs and sex,
authorities said.

"I want it all," he allegedly told the cop, who was posing as a
hooker.

After he was brought to a Tampa police station, the New York Yankees
star told officers his arrest for soliciting and cocaine possession
could scuttle his storybook comeback from colon cancer.

"He asked if there was anything he could do to change the situation,"
Sgt. Marc Hamlin said. "He said this is going to ruin his career."

Strawberry, who has battled back from drug and alcohol addiction
twice, said he was only joking with the undercover cop when he told
her to meet him for sex at a $20-an-hour motel, police said.

And he denied that the .3 gram of cocaine found wrapped in a $20 bill
belonged to him, saying he found the money in the glove compartment
after his wife's uncle borrowed his sport-utility vehicle the night
before.

"He was very remorseful and continually apologized," Hamlin
said.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner declined comment Thursday on the
development that could get Strawberry banned from baseball -- or fired
from the team.

In other news:

Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius has an acutely sprained right
ankle, will not accompany the team to Detroit this weekend and is
likely to be placed the disabled list, General Manager Brian Cashman
said.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays placed left-handed pitcher Wilson Alvarez on
the 15-day disabled list because of inflammation in his left shoulder.

Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Jose Valentin had surgery to repair a torn
ligament in his left thumb, and the team called it a success. The
thumb is to be immobilized for four weeks, after which Valentin can
begin rehabilitation.

The Cincinnati Reds' limited partners sued Marge Schott for trying to
sell her controlling interest to a group led by her cousin.

James Murdoch, the son of News Corp. chairman and Los Angeles Dodgers
owner Rupert Murdoch, was appointed to the board of the proposed
merger of the Yankees and New Jersey Nets.

Michael D. "Mickey" Friedman, a limited partner in the Yankees
ownership group, died of cancer. He was 56.