Daily News from New York, New York • 578

CD Baseball ttiraw Escrows rattoninn) felSeinry dtos "He's starting to get that killer look in his eye, that determination," Robinson said. "The timing is coming back and he feels it. He can help them if for no other reason than to sit on the bench with a bat. He has the ability to strike fear in opposing managers' hearts because he can come off the bench and hit a three-run homer." Strawberry has played 19 games since returning to baseball earlier this month. He is batting .286 with three home runs and 13 RBI.

Trey Hillman gave him the day off after the Clippers' 13-inning marathon Friday against Indianapolis in which Strawberry went 3-5 with a triple as the designated hitter. "It was just a long night," Hillman said. "He ran hard and we had an early flight." Strawberry said the right foot that had caused him to miss two previous games felt fine and that the ailment had not been tendinitis but simple soreness from playing on artificial turf. In Friday's game he scored from second base. He also said he didn't understand the hubbub surrounding his month-long comeback.

"I'm just playing baseball, it's not life or death," he said. Joe Torre said yesterday he anticipated Strawberry being called back to the Bronx on or around Wednesday and when asked about a date, GM Brian Cashman said, "I assume Sept. 1 but's not my decision." Strawberry said nobody had spoken to him about a timetable, but hitting coach Bill Robinson said he expected his pupil to leave soon and that Strawberry could definitely help the Yankees. By KENNY LUCAS DiLY SEWS SPORTS WRITER RICHMOND While many in the city are awaiting the return of Darryl Strawberry like a kid waits on Christmas, the Columbus New York slugger claims he's in no hurry to get back to the big leagues. "When ready for me.

they'll let me know," Strawberry said yesterday as the Clippers prepared to take on the Richmond Braves. Strawberry wasn't in the lineup against the Braves last night. Columbus manager feoir wooing Ms i fC. rAnS nn 1MJ field moves to put together a (bottom has made on-field million lower than Yanks'. it's a great feeling," Olivares said.

"But the season is not over." The most noteworthy factor that might derail the run is that Howe has yet to determine who amongveterans Doug Jones or Tim Worrell or former Met Jason Isringhausen will serve as the replacement for traded closer Billy Taylor (Mets) over the final month. The absence of veterans Tony Phillips (broken leg) and Tim Raines (lupus) in the clubhouse also hurts. "We're not worried about Boston or Toronto. We're not worried about who's here or not here. We're just worried about ourselves and winning more games," said DH John Jaha, who was recycled off Milwaukee's scrap heap and has responded with a 30-homer All-Star season.

"If we keep playing like we're playing, we know we're going to be there at the end. And that's all we can ask." By PETER BOTTE CAlLi NEWS SPORTS WRITER Brian Cashman wanted to choose his words carefully, to avoid trouble for suggesting another team can enjoy success without doing things George Steinbrenner's way. The Yankees' general manager was trying to say that what Oakland GM Billy Beane has accomplished with a budget S60 million less than the $85 million Cashman gets to work with should be considered the baseball story of the year, "maybe the decade." Without big-market resources in dollars, manpower, talent or anything, really the baseball club not long ago referred to as the "Triple-A' or the "Oakland Pathetics" crashes New York tomorrow. It just might not be the last Big Apple trip for the surprise but legitimate playoff contenders. "I think it shows it can be done, if you do things the right way." Cashman said.

"And judging by the success they've had from the top down, they've done everything the right way within the parameters of their organization. "Billy Beane has done a tremendous job under very different circumstances than what we get to work with," Cashman said. "I don't want to say 'anybody could do it here, because what does that say about me? But here we get the best of everything that might give us a competitive advantage, from talent, to travel, to support staff, to the guys who throw batting practice. "But I think what Billy has done could serve as the model for the people that say competitive balance is unrealistic. "That team is for real, absolutely for real," Cashman said.

"Right now they're that dangerous X-factor team that nobody would look forward to facing in October." When they made the decision to trade Mark McGwire midway through the 1997 season, the A's never could've expected to be in this position so quickly. While McGwire found his place in history last summer and might make another run at his record 70 homers this season he hasn't been remotely as close to the postseason in St. Louis as the A's are without him. "You certainly can't look at them and say they don't have a chance," said Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius, who played in Oakland from 1991-97. "They're playing well, starting to believe in themselves.

Teams can run like that for a long time on the confidence from going out and playing well against good teams. "But to me, this is no fluky, out-of-nowhere thing. People who know baseball know the kind of talent they have." It is just that nobody expected manager Art Howe could pull it all together so quickly. In first baseman Jason Giambi's first four full major-league seasons, including this one, he has batted no worse than .291. while averaging 25 homers and nearly 95 RBI.

Slugger Matt Stairs has 25-plus homers three straight years. Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Ben Grieve is only 22 and headed for a 25-30 homer season following a dreadful sophomore start. Shortstop Miguel Tejada also is 22 with 17 homers and potentially 80-90 RBI, and is developing into the latest offensive force at the position in the AL. Rookie Eric Chavez is currently on the DL (torn foot tendon), but he leads all AL third baseman in fielding percentage and was hitting .330 since the All-Star break. The rookie drawing the biggest raves, though, might be starter Tim Hudson, who entered the weekend with an 8-1 record and a 3.27 ERA over 15 starts.

"There's no question, a lot of the young guys coming up, they're in a cycle a lot like the A's teams in the mid-'80s, when they had loads of guys coming up," Brosius said. "You just knew after they got more time and more experience they'd be real good major-league players. That's certainly what they have over there." Joe Torre says that despite the lowest batting average in the AL, the A's remind him greatly of the Yankees from an offensive standpoint. No one has McGwire-es-que power, but almost everyone in the lineup can beat you with the long ball. Oakland's offensive philosophy, Torre said, is based on patience and on-base percentage.

I A's GM Billy Beane (top has orchestrated off Grieve, while manager Art Howe push, all with payroll that's $60 pitchers acquired from St. Louis for McGwire, highlighted the Appier package. "This is the first year they've done that in a lot of years. They had to work within their budget, but they at least went out and made the effort to pick up the players to give their guys a chance," Brosius said. "That wasn't the case the last few years I was there.

It's nice to see. As a player, all you want is to feel that if you have the opportunity, they're going to give you the opportunity to try to win." Prior to this weekend's series against the White Sox, the A's completed a 16-game stretch played exclusively against the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Indians with a respectable 9-7 record. When they leave New York Thursday, only five of their final 28 games will be played against teams with winning records. "We know where we are and team that includes slugger Ben moves to put together a playoff Torre said he is equally impressed with the pitching staff that Beane, a former Mets farmhand in the early '80s, unconventionally has assembled. When Beane traded disgruntled staff ace Kenny Rogers to the Mets for prospects in July, he was questioned by several of the team's core players, who believed he was abandoning a ship that hardly was sinking.

Beane quickly told his club, however, he would do whatever he could to prove that was not the case. Dumping Rogers, Beane contended, simply was about ridding the team of a player who wanted no part of being part of the revival. Beane actually trimmed $100,000 off his roughly $25 million payroll at the trading deadline, despite adding big-ticket veteran starters Kevin Appier and Omar Olivares and second baseman Randy Velarde. Blake Stein, one of three a CD.