In the nearly three weeks Harden has spent in the show, the games he's started have lasted less than a total of eight hours. But it is the hours in between when Major League rookies often face challenges that can be as tough as a cleanup hitter bearing down on a fastball.

Harden's adjustment to life off the field has been nearly as impressive as his 2-0 record and 0.86 ERA, according to others in the A's clubhouse. "He's great for a 21-year-old," said Mark Ellis, a housemate and teammate of Harden's. "He's very mature." "I think he's handling it like most of us handled it," Tim Hudson said. "It's a little overwhelming at first, but after a while you adjust.

"More than anything, it has to do with what to do in certain situations, with clubbies [clubhouse workers] or at hotels. There are a lot of little things you don't do in Triple-A that are expected here." "There are a bunch of things -- mostly little things -- that are different," Harden noted. "Everything from getting on the plane, not knowing to tip the bellman. I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to bring my bags down. The first time I checked out of a hotel, I brought my own bag down -- the guys got on me for that. They helped me out, though, let me know that's something we don't do."

Something that every big leaguer deals with is the media. In Harden's case, the attention has come from all angles, from radio stations in his native Canada to national networks.

"I think he's been doing fine -- not just on the field," Mulder said. "With the media, he's had to put up with a lot of exposure and a lot of attention and he's adapted really quickly." He's shown patience, too. "The thing I get all the time when people find out I'm Canadian is somebody who says, 'Oh yeah, I know so-and-so from Ontario. I met this guy from Ontario, you probably know him, his name's John Smith.' I get that all the time," Harden said, laughing. "People think Canada's kind of small and everybody knows everybody."

Harden, who was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, has a slight Canadian accent, but judging by his hobbies, could just as easily be labeled an All-American. In the little time he's spent in his new residence – a house he shares with Ellis, Mulder and Frank Menechino -- he's been trying to keep life away from the stadium mellow. "I like to kind of kick back, relax," he said. "I play video games, watch a movie, lay by the pool, something like that -- I keep things pretty low-key."

One activity Harden has found consistent between the bush leagues and the big leagues is video games. "Pretty much every team I've been on, the game we play is 'Halo' for XBox," he said. "Mulder and Chavvy [Eric Chavez] play all the time. I can hold my own. We get the two TVs set up and play side-by-side. It's a lot of fun." The game has created an obvious bond between roommates after just one week together.

"He's good, but I have the advantage," Mulder said, laughing. "He'll get there with a lot of hard work. Maybe he'll be at my level someday." As a rookie, Harden will have to take comments like that with a grin -- at least until next season. He'll also have Oakland's annual rookie initiation to look forward to -- usually a unique costume show on the team charter and through the team hotel late in the season.

Hudson noted that even that won't be so tough for the rook, who is treated more or less like one of the guys already. "It's not too bad here," he said. "It's not like we give guys a hard time all year. We're all so young ourselves and we remember what it was like -- it's not like we liked it."

Kent Schacht is a reporter for MLB.com.

Special to Canadian Baseball News – 04 August 2003