Pete Harnisch (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        Pete Harnisch, who's rarely satisfied with his performance, said he might not be at his best on Opening Day.

        “I'm not the pitcher I'm going to be in three or four weeks,” Harnisch said as he considered today's assignment against the Milwaukee Brewers. “It usually takes four or five starts for me to get something under my belt.”

        Harnisch's teammates respectfully disagree. They believe he's the ideal man to have on the mound for any game, Opening Day or otherwise. If Ken Griffey Jr. embodies the Reds' promise and Barry Larkin reflects the team's enduring tradition, then Harnisch represents its competitive spirit, the resilience that enabled the Reds to come from behind in 45 of its 96 victories last year.

        “When he's on the mound, we're pretty much convinced he's going six or seven innings — regardless of what kind of stuff he has — just for the fact that he's going to give everything he's got,” Reds reliever Danny Graves said. “If he's got nothing that day, he's still going to go out there. He has that bulldog mentality. He's not going to give in to anybody.”

        Until this season, Reds right fielder Dante Bichette, formerly of the Colorado Rockies, was an opponent of Harnisch's. Yet Bichette virtually echoed Graves in describing the 33-year-old right-hander.

        “You always knew he was never going to give in,” said Bichette, who owns a .289 lifetime average (13-for-45) with three home runs against Harnisch. “He was always going to try to figure out a way to beat you ... You know he's going to battle you until the end with everything he has. For years I'd tell (ex-Rockies General Man ager Bob) Gebhard, "You gotta get this guy.' He wasn't afraid to pitch anywhere.”

        Harnisch remains unafraid to challenge hitters with his fastball, which travels at average velocity. He coaxes streams of harmless fly balls with a deliberate pitching motion that throws off some hitters, by hiding the ball throughout his delivery and, finally, by steering many of his pitches toward the strike zone's upper reaches. Harnisch's fastball tantalizes hitters, but it overpowers them more than they overpower it.

        “He throws it in that in-between spot where you think you can get it and you can't,” Bichette said.

        “I think a lot of other teams are a little bit intimidated, be cause it's him,” Graves said.“They know how much of a competitor he is. He might not have the stuff he did or throw as hard as he did a few years back, but he's always going to have that competitiveness. I think that's what you need on a team that has a chance to win. Hopefully other guys will pick up on his will to win.”

        Having built a 102-94 record in nearly 11 years in the majors, Harnisch has proven that his way works, however unusual it might be. He has maintained his habits throughout stops with Baltimore (1988-90), Houston (1991-94), the New York Mets (1995-97), Milwaukee (1997) and the Reds, for whom he's 30-17 in the past two years.

        “I throw a few more cut fastballs than I used to,” said Harnisch, whose success with the Reds illustrates his triumph over the clinical depression that struck him in 1997. “But for the most part my approach is pretty much the same.”

        Right-hander Mark Portugal thought he noticed a few subtle changes in Harnisch, with whom he played in Houston.

        “He doesn't sweat the little things anymore,” Portugal said before he was released last Wednesday. “If he makes a bad pitch or walks a guy, he doesn't carry that around with him. He concentrates on the next thing. I think that's just something you gain as you get older. You quit worrying about the little things and you know what you have to do and your focus becomes more on the big picture instead of isolated incidents.”

        Harnisch, who'll start his fourth season opener, sees Opening Day as both a highlight and as part of the background. Wednesday night's second game, he said, “might mean just as much.”

        But he also understands Opening Day's symbolism, just as he knew the significance of his final two starts of 1999. Harnisch won both to finish 16-10 and keep the Reds in the race for a postseason berth.

        “You draw from that,” he said. “There are certain games that are just a little bit different. The bottom line is, it's an honor to be out there on the field with the starting team for the first game.”

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