BOSTON – After helping the Yankees batter Tim Wakefield on their way to winning the AL East yesterday, BP pitcher Joe Ausanio jokingly said he was going to ask the players for a playoff share.

“I am going to ask for a quarter,” the former Yankee hurler said.

Brought in to throw knuckleballs during yesterday’s BP in the indoor cage, Ausanio only faced Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

Jeter went 1-for-3 and drove in a run against Wakefield, a 1992 Triple-A Buffalo teammate of Ausanio’s. But A-Rod went 3-for-4 with a homer against Wakefield.

“I couldn’t hit him in the cage,” A-Rod said.

Ausanio, an assistant GM for the Hudson Valley entry in the NY-Penn League (Short-Season A), appeared in 41 games for the Yankees in 1994-95. As a big leaguer, he never threw the knuckleball because he didn’t have faith in it.