Harkey Working Hard to Stay in Majors : Baseball: Former Titan, now with the Athletics, has been making adjustments in an attempt to stay ahead of hitters.

The guy who once was supposed to step into Greg Maddux’s Cy Young-size shoes was pretty satisfied with his ordinary self Wednesday in Seattle.

Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Harkey, former dreamer and current realist, picked up his third consecutive victory Tuesday, beating Seattle, 6-4. It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but the beauty was in the eye of the beholder.

Harkey certainly didn’t burn batters with that heat he tossed back when he played for Cal State Fullerton. His fastball, which once made speed guns blink in the 90 m.p.h. range, got him through 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits.

But there’s only one column that merits Harkey’s attention.

“A win is a win,” Harkey said. “The four runs may have tainted it a little bit. But it’s still a win.”

Diminishing returns for one once tagged with limitless potential. But Harkey, at 28, would rather have the increasing confidence in what he has in hand.

These days, he’s the No. 5 starter for the A’s. Sure, it’s long way from those heady phenom days, when the Chicago Cubs selected him fourth in the 1987 amateur draft. But a good job is hard to find, especially for a pitcher who bombed--and was bombed--as a free agent with the Colorado Rockies last season.

“I’m lucky to be in Oakland, really,” Harkey said. “There weren’t a lot of opportunities for me. I wanted to go to a place where I knew I would get some help.”

The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Harkey was eager to work with pitching coach Dave Duncan, who has helped revive other careers. Duncan has done his best, turning Harkey’s focus from overwhelming hitters to keeping them off-balance.

The two are constantly tinkering with Harkey’s delivery.

“Mike’s arm position is real important to him,” Duncan said. “The quality of his breaking ball suffers when it gets out of position. He’s learned to work his change up and in. He doesn’t have the velocity he once had, but he has a better-than-average fastball.”

All of which has come together at the right time.

Former Cuban standout Ariel Prieto, the A’s first-round draft pick, left the Palm Springs Sun, an independent team in the Western League, and is close to reaching an agreement. He is being touted in much the way Harkey was in the past and is expected to join the A’s rotation almost immediately.

For that to happen, someone has to go. Harkey, who is 4-4 with a bloated 6.07 earned-run average, is trying to pitch himself off the short list.

In his three starts prior to the winning streak, Harkey had allowed 16 runs and 20 hits in 9 1/3 innings. In his last three starts, he has given up nine runs and 15 hits in 16 2/3 innings. A modest improvement, but an improvement, with three victories to go with it.

“These things come in bunches,” Harkey said. “I’m constantly working on my flaws.”

There was a time when Harkey had few, if any, of those.

The Cubs vowed not to rush him to the major leagues when he signed in 1987. But Harkey made such a promise tough to keep. He went 18-7 in two seasons, fast-tracking from Class-A Peoria to triple-A Iowa in that time.

By 1990, he was secure in the Cubs’ starting rotation. Harkey finished 12-6 with a 3.26 ERA and was named the National League rookie of the year by the Sporting News. Comparisons to Hall of Famer Bob Gibson increased.

Two knee surgeries and one shoulder surgery did little to diminish the Cubs’ hopes for Harkey. In 1993, he was tabbed as the heir to Cy Young Award winner Maddux, who had signed with Atlanta.

Harkey started 5-1, but finished 10-10 with a 5.26 ERA.

“I don’t think any team has an ‘ace,’ ” Harkey said. “A guy may win 20 games, but the team finishes last. What does that get you? It’s better to have three or four guys doing a good job.”

The Rockies hoped Harkey would take one of those spots last season. The Angels actually offered more money, but Harkey turned down $1 million for one year to take Rockies’ deal, which was $600,000 with $300,000 in incentives.

He didn’t come close to pocketing the extra cash.

Harkey had signed with the Rockies in part to be reunited with catcher Joe Girardi, a former Cub teammate. But Harkey didn’t figure the Rockies’ hitter-friendly ballpark into the mix.

He flopped from the start and finished 1-6 with a 5.79 ERA.

At one point, he tried to change his luck by changing his uniform number from 32 to 27. He was bombed by San Francisco in his next start--a team he had owned while with the Cubs. Harkey had been 5-0 against the Giants.

Harkey was banished to the bullpen, then to the minors. He returned in August, but pitched little. It didn’t take bifocals to read the future.

“I would have liked to stay, but I don’t go anywhere I’m not wanted,” Harkey said. “There were 27 other teams. I was hoping one needed me.”

The A’s did, to an extent. But Harkey had to prove himself for the first time in his career.

Harkey went from white-collar to blue-collar money, at least by baseball standards. But, by signing a minor league contract, Harkey got a head start on his competition.

“He had an opportunity to have a full spring training,” Duncan said. “His velocity improved. We heard he had continued to improve, even last year. We felt he could help us.”

Said Harkey: “I think the fact I had to go out and make the team helped. I had to go out and impress them early. I had to push a little more.”

Still, it was a struggle, made more so when the A’s signed free agent pitchers Dave Stewart, Todd Stottlemyre and Steve Ontiveros. Harkey responded with the best spring training of his career. He was 1-0 with an 0.93 ERA, allowing one run in 9 1/3 innings.

Harkey clinched a spot on the roster with three shutout innings against the Giants the day before the season opener.

“He impressed us this spring,” Manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s big and strong, and he’s got five or six pitches. When he’s throwing them for strikes, he gives opposing batters a lot of things to contend with.”

It also gave Harkey a chance, which is all he wants these days.

“My big league career hasn’t been that long,” Harkey said. “I’ve won some games and lost some games, but all I want is to go out every fifth day and compete.”