Chili Davis needed to hear it from Darryl Strawberry’s mouth and when he did, he felt a lot better about a friend he has known longer than any other Yankee teammate.
“I called him and asked him if he was doing that stuff [cocaine],” Davis told The Post early last night. “He said, ‘I am not.’ He also said he was feeling all right.”
As for Strawberry’s legal woes, Davis got the feeling that his buddy was in good spirits but is still rightfully concerned since he is facing a cocaine possession rap that carries a maximum sentence of five years.
“He said he didn’t need this BS because it wasn’t something that he put himself in, that it was other people,” Davis said. “He sounded OK, but he wasn’t vibrantly up.”
The rest of the 45-minute chat included talk about everything else.
“There was a lot of little other [stuff],” Davis said. “I let him know that the boys were in his corner and that we wished him the best. I told him if he needs anything or needs to talk, give me a call.”
Meanwhile, there was nothing new on Strawberry’s legal front yesterday. He is still awaiting a court date on charges of soliciting an undercover female cop posing as a hooker and possession of cocaine.
People close to Strawberry believe he will beat the raps and then have his baseball future decided by George Steinbrenner. *Having been David Wells’ regular catcher last year, Jorge Posada knew Wells as well as any Yankee hitter going into last night’s action.
Yet, the switch-hitting catcher didn’t necessarily agree that his experience with Wells was a plus for him when he got to the plate.
“It can go the other way, too,” said Posada, who was looking to shrug off a slow start (.087, one HR, four RBIs). ” Because he can mess with me and pitch me differently.” *Blue Jays were 4-2 at Yankee Stadium last year, the only visiting team with a winning record. *LHP Andy Pettitte (0-0; 0.00 ERA) draws RHP Roy Halladay (2-0; 0.00) today. RHP David Cone (3-0; 0.93) faces RHP Kelvin Escobar (2-0; 4.00) tomorrow when the Yankees will honor Joe DiMaggio with a monument in Monument Park.