TAMPA, Fla. – A "very sick" Darryl Strawberry was given yet another chance Thursday when a judge sent the former baseball star to rehab instead of prison for going on a four-day drug binge.

	Daryl Strawberry, left, is fingerprinted by a Hillsborough County bailiff after being sentenced Thursday morning.

"You are at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes against you. You are a proven winner on the field. Now you must prove you are a winner off the field," Circuit Judge Florence Foster said.

Strawberry, 39, was ordered into a treatment program, as he had requested. He is to serve two years there, then a year of probation.

The eight-time All-Star, who has battled colon cancer and depression along with drug addiction, has five times violated the terms of his release on a 1999 conviction for drug possession and solicitation of prostitution.

If he violates his release again, he faces 18 months in a Florida prison under the judge's order.

Strawberry showed no emotion upon hearing his sentence, handed down after he pleaded for leniency.

"This case is not about Darryl Strawberry, the baseball player," Strawberry said. "This is about a person who is very sick, who's been very sick for a very long time and needs a lot of help. I just thank God I'm alive today to be in front of you to deal with the situation."

Strawberry is battling colon cancer and has mental problems more severe than previously known, his doctors said. Psychiatrists said there are signs of brain damage from years of cocaine use.

Prosecutors and Strawberry's probation officer had wanted the one-time slugger sent to prison for 18 months.

"We hope he can succeed this time," said Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.

Strawberry is also required to serve 100 hours of community service speaking to young people.

Dozens of supporters, including Strawberry's wife, Charisse, asked Foster not to send Strawberry to prison, saying he is a typical addict who will relapse many times before overcoming addiction.

Charisse Strawberry, who recently was appointed the head of an anti-drug organization in Tampa, cried as Foster announced her decision.

"We are very relieved and very happy with the results we were able to achieve," said Joe Ficarrotta, Strawberry's lawyer.

Thursday, some of Strawberry's former teammates with the New York Yankees said they were continuing to support him.

"We're just hoping he gets the help he needs," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "It's not like he's a danger to society, at least I don't think like that."

Manager Joe Torre said Strawberry's troubles have turned into a lesson about the realities of addiction.

"Hopefully he can resurrect his life," Torre said. "He's got a lot to live for. He's got a wife and young kids. He had every reason not to do this. It's obviously bigger than him. It's just sad."

Last year, Foster placed Strawberry under house arrest after he left the Tampa drug treatment center where he had been living.

Strawberry returned to the center and stayed clean for five months until March 29, he disappeared with a woman who was supposed to be taking him to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He surfaced four days later.

The judge said she treated the celebrity like anyone else.

"I hope my decision helps Mr. Strawberry," Foster said. "Now everything is up to him ... which is true with every addict who passes through my court."

Strawberry, who played for the Mets, Giants, Dodgers and Yankees, was suspended from major league baseball last year -- his third cocaine-related suspension in five years.

In a formality later Thursday, Strawberry was also sentenced to 43 days in jail for violating his probation on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. The charge stemmed from a case in November where Strawberry, driving under the influence of pain killers, hit another car and a street sign.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge James Dominguez gave Strawberry credit for the time he has spent under arrest at the psychiatric ward of St. Joseph's Hospital.

Ficarrotta said one advantage of sending Strawberry to Phoenix House is that many of the trappings and temptations of his celebrity life will be gone.

Former roommates of Strawberry at the Tampa treatment center have said not a day went by when someone wasn't trying to contact him for an interview or for some reason related to his status as a baseball star.

Strawberry will initially live in a dormitory that houses 15 men, sleep in a bunk bed and must work at the facility.

Strawberry won't be able to see his family at first, and once he earns visitation privileges there will be tight controls over who comes to see him, said Finn Kavanagh, regional director for Phoenix House.

"It's a tough program," Kavanagh said. "People are surprised how hard it is."