BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Pete Schourek threw two innings yesterday and pronounced them good. His surgically repaired elbow did not snap, crackle or pop. ''I'm ahead of the game right now,'' he said. This was good news for the Reds, because without Schourek, everything goes dark.

The Reds have a $30 million payroll. Thirty million just doesn't buy what it used to. Now, it gets you no room for mistakes. Everything has to go right. If you are the Yankees and paying twice that in salaries, you hop lightly through your March, and hope nobody breaks a nail.

If you are the Reds, you become obsessed with Pete Schourek's elbow.

Schourek threw 28 pitches Monday against the Cleveland Indians. Someone wondered how many were elbow-bending curveballs. ''Two,'' Schourek said.

''How hard did you throw them?''

''About seventy-five percent,'' Schourek said.

To whom, someone wondered. Kevin Mitchell, Schourek said. ''And some right-handed hitter.''

In the good, not-so-old days, the Reds fretted over a fourth starting pitcher. They wondered how they could be contenders without a left-handed set-up man in the bullpen. Life is good when you wonder about left-handed set-up men.

Smaller budget, more worries

That was before downsizing. Now, at $30 million, the Reds worry about their leadoff hitter and their cleanup man. They cross their fingers for their third baseman.

Deion Sanders, Ruben Sierra and Willie Greene aren't fingers in the dike. They are the dike.

The Reds ponder third, fourth and fifth starters. They welcome anyone with an arm and a past. Every night is open-mike night. Give us your tired, your poor, your Bones, Nied and Mercker. The Morgan the merrier.

As usual, General Manager Jim Bowden has done an MVP job gathering players. If you throw enough of them against the wall, a few will stick. Nothing wrong with that.

Only now, maybe equipment manager Bernie Stowe has to shake down half the men passing through the clubhouse door: ''You got a pass or sumthin'?''

The Reds fourth, fifth and sixth-place hitters now are Sierra, Reggie Sanders and Greene. If you know how good that trio will be this summer, go to the head of the class.

''How many pitches will you throw next time?'' we asked Pete Schourek.

''Forty or 45,'' Schourek said.

He has played the rehab game before. ''I'm not blind to the pain. My elbow has been killing me for five years,'' Schourek said. This time is different, because no team ever needed him to be its best pitcher. No team ever said, ''If you can't go, we won't contend for a title.''

As Schourek said, ''I'm one-fifth of the most important part of the team.''

Only the affirmative

Spring training has always been a place for players to poke, prod and test. To find things out. This year, the Reds can't afford to hear any answers but, ''Yes,'' Schourek's yes being only the most critical.

Bowden and acting CEO John Allen haven't created a contender out of whole cloth. But it's close.

''When will you know you've made it back?'' we asked.

''When I throw (a curve) as hard as I can and nothing happens,'' Schourek said.

Lots of teams mix and match now. The Indians hired Kevin Mitchell to dull the loss of Albert Belle. The Pirates are trying to match minor-league players with major-league uniforms.

The division-winning Cardinals are no better than last year. They added a leadoff hitter (Delino DeShields) and another year to bullpen grandpas Dennis Eckersley and Rick Honeycutt, the Methuselah Brothers.

The Reds can beat them. If everything goes right. As it is, it's the Cards against The House of Cards. Things have to go unreasonably well for a team to contend on $30 million.

''This was a pretty big start,'' Schourek allowed. You could say that again. In the Reds dugout, somebody probably did.

Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments. Call him at 768-8454.