Your team is 20 games under .500 going into the night's action. Your stars have been traded away. You're on your last coaching stop, and the guy who hired you is long gone. Did I mention that your style doesn't gel with that of the new guy? And you're helping to push yourself out the door with lovely quotable like:

"I have never wanted to win more than I do right here, and I will, but this is Wayne Krivsky's team, not Walt Jocketty's and not mine. I just hope there is enough out there after the season that we can get to help us."

Whatever the reason, he was all smiles Tuesday, as he rolled the Cincinnati Reds into town for a three-game set, the final visit for 2008. And more importantly, it was a short-lived smile, as the Cubs offense exploded late to win 5-0. Rich Harden continued his string of dominant performances; going seven shutout innings, with ten strikeouts -- there's that number again -- for the win.

I've not seen personally seen a better pitching matchup this year. Johnny Cueto is a star in the making; I said so earlier this season, and he's done little to change that opinion. He's taken his lumps this year, as shown by the 4.90 ERA. But he's got two nasty pitches in the fastball and slider, and I suspect that time, natural development, and getting away from Dusty will take care of the rest. He and Rich Harden pretty much went tit for tat through seven, with the Cubs only run on a Harden sacrifice to score Geovany Soto in the fifth inning, which was more bad Joey Votto throw than anything else. Well, Ceuto was a bit more wild than Harden, plunking both Aramis Ramirez and Jim Edmonds.

You wondered though whether Rich was again going to be the victim of poor run support, as he was lifted after seven for pinch hitter Mike Fontenot, with the Cubs nursing a 1-0 lead. Nope. The Cubs ran wild all over that Reds bullpen in the eighth, with four straight hits off of reliever Mike Lincoln, who retired no one. Bill Bray did marginally better, retiring PH Reed Johnson, before intentionally walking Soto to get to Kosuke Fukudome. Perfect situation really; one out, slow-footed catcher on first, out at every base, lefty-on-lefty matchup, and a struggling hitter at the plate. I honestly debated the merits of lifting Kosuke for Henry Blanco or Ronny Cedeno, the last righties left on the bench. But Piniella seems to be allowing him a great deal more leash than most managers would, given the situation and time of year. This was shown by letting him play in both games of the twin-bill last week against the Braves -- after he struggled in the first game -- and I think again last night. Lou was rewarded, as Kosuke sent a groundball single into center, scoring Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. Classic 2008 Reds. Good ideas, poor execution. By then, nothing left to do but send in the hounds to seal the deal; Kerry Wood pitched a quick ninth to preserve the win.

It was good win; now do it five more times this week. And if you're a photo fan, you should definitely check out the photo gallery for last night's game. I hadn't seen Rich Harden up close yet this season, so I splurged a bit. I think you'll like the results.