But Opening Day can do only so much.

PHOTO GALLERIES

• At the ballpark • Opening Day Parade

Like it or not, last year is still very much with the Reds. You don't forget a season like 2003 so easily - the injuries, the trades of fan favorites like Aaron Boone, the firings, the futility of a franchise that essentially started from scratch in the middle of a 93-loss season.

"We looked around last year and it was just me and Jason LaRue," said first baseman Sean Casey.

Things are better this year. That's what shortstop Barry Larkin surmised after the Reds dropped a 7-4 decision Monday to Kerry Wood and the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park.

"Guys feel they belong here this year," Larkin said. "Guys believe that we can compete this year as opposed to worrying how to play at this level."

There's also a feeling among the players that having the level-headed Dave Miley as manager instead of the meddling Bob Boone will pay off.

"There's more coaching from individual coaching as opposed to the manager having his hands on everything," Larkin said.

Still, last year's devastation left a deep bruise on this franchise that hasn't healed yet. Expectations haven't been this low in years.

Cory Lidle gives up five runs in five innings and it doesn't seem so bad. The Reds find themselves within a run of the Cubs in the late innings and there's optimism in the clubhouse.

"They're supposed to be one of the best teams in baseball and we were right there the whole game," Casey said.

Like it or not, with their $47 million payroll, the Reds have become the equivalent of a college basketball mid-major that surprises itself when it hangs tough with a major program.

But that's a step up from the minor-league contingent that played out the string last year.

They did, after all, touch Wood for four runs. And they were within striking distance of the Cubs until left fielder Adam Dunn dropped a fly ball with two out in the eighth inning, leading to two unearned runs and essentially burying the Reds.

"I just clanked it," Dunn said. "It's something that happens, but it shouldn't. There's not a worse feeling in sports than doing that."

Being a mid-major isn't all bad. It doesn't necessarily preclude the Reds from winning their share of games this year. Mid-majors, do, after all, pull surprises.

The Reds actually looked good at times Monday. Lidle dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt in the third. Casey ripped a two-run double in the fifth off Wood and the Reds turned in a crisply executed 8-2-5 double play off a Moises Alou single in the ninth.

It's just that everything about this team appears so fragile. After what happened last year, you tread lightly around this club. You watch it with your fingers crossed, hoping that the franchise doesn't shatter into pieces again.

There's a 39-year-old shortstop who played in only 70 games last year and a future Hall of Fame center fielder who's so fragile a strained calf muscle keeps him on the bench.

"He wasn't 100 percent," Miley said of Ken Griffey Jr. "With the type of competitor he is, I'm sure he wanted to be out there, but it wasn't worth the risk."

You hold your breath on every throw Austin Kearns makes from the outfield, wondering if his surgically repaired shoulder will hold up. You watch to see if Larkin is limping after he runs the bases.

"The important thing is that we kept ourselves in the game the whole game," LaRue said.

No, the important thing is that no one got hurt. Dunn dropped a fly ball, all right, but at least he didn't trip and sprain his ankle.

It's OK to exhale now.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

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