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As disheartening as it has been these days, Tribe fans finally had something to cheer about yesterday albeit on the heels of an 11-game losing streak and against the even-worse Baltimore Orioles. In a battle for the worst record in the American League, the Indians came up victorious as Fausto Carmona improved to 4-12 with a quality start as the Tribe ended up victorious 4-2. It has been a rare sign for the Domincan native over the past two years, but things seemed all fine and dandy as the bullpen came through in the end in leading Cleveland’s rare victory at Progressive Field.

Baseball fans all know the story of Fausto’s rise and fall from glory by now. A summer league legend after being plucked from the DR back in 1998, Carmona emerged on the big-time prospect radar with a 17-4 record and a 2.06 ERA for the Class A Lake County Captains in ‘03. As a fire-balling 19-year-old, he permitted just 14 walks in 148.1 innings pitched for the Captains and followed up that performance with a decent overall final stat line in the next two years between Kinston, Akron and Buffalo. What has ensued since then however, is a mystery that can only happen in Cleveland and still leaves a ton of question marks for the future.

Fast forward again to last night, with the Indians beginning the contest a meager 1.0-game ahead of the Orioles in the AL cellar. Carmona, who had allowed four runs or more in 26 of his last 35 starts since late May of last season, was cruising through an O’s lineup that actually featured several former Cleveland prospects in Luke Scott and Michael Aubrey. The 6′4″ right-hander struck out six on the night while walking just one in his six innings of work, marking just the third time in 23 startsthis season  he had three or more strikeouts compared to walks.

Yes, I am aware he allowed nine hits and a solo home run to Nick Markakis to begin the sixth. All I am saying is that anytime your starter provides a quality start with a solid strikeout/walk ratio it is hard to complain. It sure looked more like the Cy Young fourth-place finisher Carmona of ‘07 out there, not the Carmona of ‘09 who is sitting pretty now on a 4-12 record with a 6.62 ERA and 1.81 WHIP.

Going back to his timeline in the majors, he made his MLB debut on April 15, 2006 for the Tribe in game #11 and delivered a 99-pitch dandy to the tune of his first big league win. That would be the highlight of Fausto Carmona’s first year in the big leagues however, as an extended stint in the bullpen complete with three blown saves in a week brought to question his handling as a rookie. Clearly not a long-term asset in the bullpen, he was switched back to the rotation where he made four more so-so starts at the end of September for the Indians. He finished 1-10 with a 5.42 ERA in 38 games/7 starts.

Back in his normal role as a starter in 2007, Carmona had one of the finest years for a Cleveland right-hander in the last few decades. Out-shined by his fellow ace C.C. Sabathia, Carmona was arguably statistically better in finishing second in the AL with a 3.06 ERA and second with 19 wins. Most astonishing of all however, is the fact that he finished with a 2.25 strikeout/walk ratio, refining his sinker-ball to arguably one of the best in the business. He was a sure-fire superstar at the time and at just 23 years old, it seemed like the sky was the limit.

It is incredible to see how this story played out. Since his high watermark in ‘07, Carmona is 11-19 with a 6.10 ERA in 44 starts along with 126 strikeouts against an alarming 137 walks in 233.0 innings. I know the numbers have been intimidating throughout this article, but to just see how his ERA doubled and his walk ratio skyrocketed in this two-year span is to notice that something has gone terribly wrong. Who knows why exactly he fell back from one of the top studs in the AL all the way to one of the worst starters in the business, but here we are in 2009, siting at 29 games under .500 in an extremely sad season.

Next year, the likes of Jake Westbrook, Aaron Laffey, Jeremy Sowers and Carmona will be counted on to step up for an incredibly young roster. If any one of them slips up along the way, a hopefully improved Carlos Carrasco along with Hector Rondon, Ryan Edell, and/or some other names will be there to fill in the gaps. As Cleveland fans, it just hurts to see more guys fall like Carmona and I hope last night’s solid performance will be more the norm than the unusual that requires an entire elaborate post in 2010.

(Photo above is via Tony Dejak/Associated Press from last night’s game. The next photo is also via AP and is from an SI.com article linked above as well.)