DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — On the nights Aaron Harang pitches, instead of the wishbone-C on his hat they should slap a 'W' on it. And it wouldn't stand for Washington, it would stand for Win.

When Harang pitches, the Cincinnati Reds win, just like Friday night's 5-3 victory over the Florida Marlins.

Harang gave up three runs and eight hits over seven innings and was the winner, lifting his record to 13-3 and the Reds are 14-1 in his last 15 starts.

"You count on him for a good performance and every time he goes to the mound you feel like you're going to win," said manager Pete Mackanin after his team's fourth straight win. "If he has an off day, God forbid, it's shocking. He has been that good."

Cincinnati's record under Mackanin is 27-19, best in the National League Central since Mackanin took July 3.

"We're here to have fun and the way to have fun is win," said Mackanin. "The thing I like is that we're playing like a winning team."

The offense was provided by Brandon Phillips ? a home run and a run-scoring single, and Javier Valentin, a run-scoring double and a run-scoring single.

"With Harang on the mound, you know he is going to throw strikes and you know we're going to win," said Phillips. "We should have been like this all season, but right now we are."

And is anybody in the clubhouse sniffing a continued climb toward the top?

"Of course," said Phillips. "You can't ever give up. Just like last year. We should have made it last year and almost did and we can still make it this year."

Harang and Florida's Dontrelle Willis matched zeroes for three innings until the Reds broke through for two in the fifth, the first coming when

Phillips led with his 24th homer. Edwin Encarnacion pushed a single to right and Valentin stretched his career-best hitting streak to 14 with a run-scoring double to make it 2-0.

Florida whacked Harang for two homers in the sixth, a leadoff blast by Mike Jacobs and a two-run jolt by Matt Treanor to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead.

It lasted only long enough for Jeff Keppinger to come to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and drive a 420-foot home run to left, pushing his career-best hitting streak to 13 and tying the game, 3-3.

The Reds broke the tie in the seventh on Jorge Cantu's single, Edwin Encarnacion's double and an infield hit to shortstop by Valentin that scored Cantu for a 4-3 lead.

Valentin, a switch-hitter, usually only starts against righthanded pitchers, "So I was surprised to see I was starting against (lefthander) Dontrelle Willis."

Said Mackanin, "A lot of switch-hitters get the knock of not being not hit from one side or the other, especially the right side versus lefties because they don't get as many at-bats. To me, Javier can hit lefthanded pitchers. He hit that double like a Tiger Woods 2-iron stinger. That thing was a rocket."

Valentin said he knows it's tougher for him righthanded because he doesn't get that many chances.

"After my first at-bat (a strikeout), I told myself to stay aggressive," said Valentin. "He's going to be tough against anybody. I just told myself to stay under control, make contact, don't try to do too much."

And Valentin is talking about how good it is now and how it is the way it should have been all season.

"If we had played like this all year, we'd be real close to the top right now," he said. "We're playing good baseball, relaxed baseball. We're opening some eyes."

Phillips tacked on an insurance run in the eighth by banging a run-scoring triple behind a walk to Keppinger that made it 5-3.

Gary Majewski pitched a scoreless eighth (one hit) and David Weathers put the 'E' in excitement again in the ninth, putting the first two on before he retired the final three to annex his 28th save.

"Jared Burton was not available (for the eighth inning) so what Majewski did was huge," said Mackanin. "The way the starting pitching has, well, I don't want to use the word faltered — but in disarray — for a number of reasons, we need everybody in that bullpen to do their part and everybody has.

"You have to count on everybody in that 'pen and if they're in the major leagues they have to be considered major-league pitchers and hold their part of the bargain."

Since losing 14-4 Monday to Atlanta, the Reds have won four straight and the bullpen has given up two runs over 17 2/3 innings — a 1.02 earned run average.