Dykstra discusses his time in prison

First of two parts

LENNY DYKSTRA gave his first interview since coming out of prison. And, as you might expect, it was classic Nails.

Dykstra was released from the the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex in California in June after serving 6 1/2 months in for bankruptcy fraud.

Yesterday, he chatted with former major league All-Stars Robert Fick and Dmitri Young on their show "FYI Sports Talk," part of the Jon Lovitz Vodcast Network.

"It sounds so funny for me to say I was in prison," Dykstra said. "It's so unreal. But it was real. In a crazy way, going to prison when I did - I didn't want to, trust me - it actually kind of made me realize what's important . . . I'm not recommending anybody go to prison to find your life, but to me, it was rock bottom.

"The next step from prison is death, if you think about it. There's nothing worse you can do to a person than lock them up - take away their freedom."

Dykstra, who played for the Phillies (1989-96) and Mets (1985-89) over a 12-year career, seemed as if he was willing to speak about former teammate Darren Daulton, who recently announced that he has brain cancer.

At one point, Fick, who played a majority of his 10-year career with the Tigers, said he wanted to talk about Lenny's favorite player. Young, who also played for the Tigers during a 13-year career, countered "We already talked about that [before the show], it's Darren Daulton."

A laughing Dykstra then chimed in, "Well there's other ones too. I like [Pete] Incaviglia. Inky's the best 5 o'clock hitter [batting practice] in baseball without a doubt. Inky actually came out and worked for me at my car wash for a while. He had some problems personally and I helped him out."

Tomorrow: Dykstra talks about playing in Philly, his future plans and a possible movie about his life.