Strawberry’s Trials Make for Long Day : Baseball: Claire says that the Dodgers were initially ‘very close’ to releasing the slugger, but acknowledgment of substance abuse changed that.

For Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, Darryl Strawberry’s acknowledgment of substance abuse was the end to a long, fitful 24 hours of speculation, fury, sadness and, ultimately, sympathy.

Sunday, Strawberry did not show up for a game against the Angels, then gave Claire a flimsy excuse when he was finally reached Sunday night.

Monday began with an enraged Claire admittedly “very close” to releasing his $20-million player and ended with Strawberry, still a Dodger, headed for treatment with the Dodgers’ blessing.

Monday evening, less than a day before his team’s season opener, Claire, his face moistened by the heat of television lights, looked exhausted, but relieved.

“I think everyone will have their thoughts about Darryl,” Claire said of the Dodger players. “They’ll obviously be anxious to know what has happened and I think probably feel relieved that he is going to move on to address this.

“But I don’t think the team will lose its focus. We don’t have any excuse, we can’t pin any fault on Darryl for what we achieve or what we don’t achieve. I think we’ve got a good group of players and I think they will play very well.”

Pitcher Orel Hershiser said his initial reaction to the announcement was surprise.

“He’s handled himself with the utmost character and integrity throughout the whole spring,” Hershiser said. “So this problem, if he had it through spring training, was very well hidden.”

Hershiser, who will start today’s game against the Florida Marlins, said the team must move past Strawberry’s troubles.

“We’ve just lost one of our parts, but it’s not like we’re in the middle of a season and Darryl has been making a huge contribution,” Hershiser said. “We’re still 0-0, with a whole season in front of us, with 25 guys ready to play.”

Claire, who has been criticized for his ill-fated decision to sign Strawberry to a long-term deal before the 1991 season, had his own, loud reaction to Strawberry’s first excuse when he was finally reached Sunday night--complete disdain.

“He gave me a story yesterday that just didn’t seem reasonable to me,” Claire said.

Does Claire believe that his strong response to a weak explanation helped Strawberry come clean Monday?

“Perhaps,” Claire said. “Because I don’t think in any case or at any time we’ve ever looked the other way. I haven’t really let Darryl look the other way or tried not to. . . . So he knew that I wasn’t going to let him up or have him say something that didn’t sound reasonable to me or without a full explanation of what it was.

“I’m just glad he’s faced it.”

The Dodgers signed Strawberry knowing his history with alcohol problems--Strawberry spent time at the Smithers Center in 1990--but Claire said he saw no signs of new problems recently.

After two seasons spent mostly on the sideline and recent controversies involving tax investigations and Strawberry’s callous comments about the Southern California wildfires, this spring had been quiet for Strawberry.

“I guess it’s just a difficult problem and a big part of it obviously is denial,” Claire said. “When you see Darryl playing well, performing well, in the clubhouse, on time, getting along with his teammates, good attitude, that’s pretty tough to break all of that down and try to read something else into it.”

Claire, who was careful to avoid forecasting Strawberry’s future with the team, had the experience of dealing with Steve Howe’s drug problems almost 10 years ago.

The Dodgers supported Howe through difficult times, Claire said, and would support Strawberry now.

“The fact is that Steve is still playing major league baseball (with the New York Yankees) and that’s significant,” Claire said. “Because who knows how a case may end. To that degree, yes, I’ve always thought that that was successful because Steve is alive and well and playing major league baseball.

“And that’s a happy ending.”

Strawberry was placed on the 15-day disabled list, which could be extended to a much longer stay, and Claire was evasive when asked if Strawberry would play for the Dodgers again.

“I think you have two issues--you have Darryl the person and we certainly have not turned our backs on Darryl the person,” Claire said. “And you have Darryl the ballplayer, and that is something we will have to evaluate.”

Said Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda before the extent of Strawberry’s problem was known: “Do I want him on the ballclub? That’s not my decision to make. He has a ton of talent. He’s also had a lot of problems in his baseball career. It’s sad.”

Strawberry’s attorney, Bob Shapiro, said his client told him he was driven to drugs to try to relieve building pressures and burdens.

“The stress of performing, the stress of coming back and performing at the level that a ballplayer of his reputation is expected to do,” Shapiro said. “There are high expectations for him every time he steps up to the plate.”

* STRAWBERRY: Darryl Strawberry was put on the disabled list after admitting a substance-abuse problem. A1