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This is part four in our 10 part series counting down the best moments/stories in Cleveland Sports for 2009. Many of you have left comments for us and we appreciate it. Remember, this isn’t just the best game, shot, or play; its the stories as well. Such is the case when we are talking about#7 on our list. Just when you thought there couldn’t be more change with our teams, more underachieving cost someone their job.

#7 After seven years as manager of the Indians, Eric Wedge was let go

“Keep grinding.”

“Our guys never gave into the fight.”

“One game and one day at a time.”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard former Tribe Manager Eric Wedge say one of his pet phrases over the last seven years, I’d be a millionaire. A manager at every level of the Indians organization and a favorite of management, Eric Michael Wedge took over the big league club at the outset of the 2003 season and seemed like the perfect fit for a rebuilding team. He had seen most of the young kids as the skipper of the AAA Buffalo Bisons. He was a no-nonsense guy who had played briefly in the majors and fought with every fiber of his being to get there.

As a former catcher, Wedge knew how to run a ballclub the way he wanted. During his first season, the team inevitably struggled, finishing fourth in the AL Central and winning just 68 games with guys such as Milton Bradley, Brandon Phillips, and Casey Blake playing key roles. Other than a young CC Sabathia, the rotation was littered with junk (apologies to Jake Westbrook, who hadn’t come into his own yet). Not much was known about Wedge at that point, but he was about to make his mark.

During Spring Training of 2004, Wedge seemed to have set his sights on two players that weren’t “his kind of guys;” the brash Phillips and the volitile Bradley. Phillips, the everyday second baseman in ’03 didn’t make the club and spent almost the entire year in AAA. There would be more with him later. As for Bradley, he and Wedge were like oil and water. Milton’s temper is legendary and after failing to run out a pop up in a Spring game in Kissimmee, Wedge yanked him and told him to go into the clubhouse. An angry Bradley had a shouting natch with his manager, who refused to back down. Two days later, Wedge had Bradley shipped to Los Angeles for Franklyn Gutierrez. Bradley went on to rail against Wedge and do his best to agitate him every time he faced the Indians. Despite the Bradley feud and having a young rag-tag bunch, the Indians finished the season 80-82, and seemed like they were ready for a breakthrough

Unfortunately for Wedge, 2005 would bring out both the best and the worst of him. His decision to run off the talented Phillips in favor of Ramon Vazquez was something that many Tribe fans can never forgive. Phillips was ready to breakthrough, but Wedge didn’t think he has the attitude that would be suited as a utility man. So Phillips, out of options, was traded to the Reds for A ball reliever Jeff Stevens. A stunner to many. Wedge’s “partnership” with GM Mark Shapiro was out of the ordinary, and it cost the Indians an all star second baseman. Shapiro trusted his manager too much here.

And here, was one of many flaws in Wedge. He is too loyal to his grinders, guys like Blake and Jamey Carroll, who like him as a player, get by bot on talent, but versatility and guts. Allowing Phillips to leave was a decision that set back the Indians for the next couple of years.

However, in 2005, the Indians were contenders. With career years from Coco Crisp, Travis Hafner, and Victor Martinez; breakthroughs from Jhonny Peralta and Grady Sizemore; and the best bullpen in baseball, the Indians looked like locks for the postseason entering the final week. And then, the roof caved in. Many (not me), blame Wedge for having his team too tight. Regardless, they lost two of three to the bottom feeding Tampa Bay and were swept by a White Sox team who rested its regulars, all at Jacobs Field. A 93 win season was not good enough to get to the playoffs. It was the most wins by a non-playoff AL team this decade.

In 2006, the Indians entered the season as the media darlings; a chic World Series pick. Yet Wedge has his team stumbling out of the gate yet again – a staple of his managerial career in Cleveland – and the team never recovered. They finished fourth in the Central going 78-84.

In 2007, the hype was gone, but the team finally played to their potential. With a lock down bullpen, a 19 game winning duo at the top of the rotation, and a young core all playing above their potential, the Tribe ran away with the division at 96-66. Wedge still tinkered with his lineup too much, but in the end, this was his finest hour. He took home AL Manager of the year and was validated when he bucked what the experts said and started Paul Byrd in game four of the ALDS in New York. The Tribe took that game when Byrd pitched solidly into the sixth and took the series. Things looked even brighter for the Grinder when his club led the Red Sox three games to one in the ALCS with his duel aces – Sabathia and Fausto Carmona – ready to pitch once more. You know the rest.

CC implosion. Fausto implosion. Skinner stop sign. Season over.

It was never the same again for Grindmaster Flash. The 2008 team mirrored the ’06 team. Ripe with expectations, they started slowly again, battled through injuries, and eventually began to wave the white flag, trading off veterans Sabathia, Blake, and Byrd. The kids who were so clutch the year before like Ryan Garko, Franklyn Gutierrez, and Asdrubal Cabrera, seemed like they spent their offseasons reading about how good they were. Wedge could never get them back on track until it was way too late, and they finished at .500.

’09 was more of the same. Expectations not met. Injuries. Trades. Eventually, it led to the end of the grind.

I was a Wedge supporter. I loved his demeanor and how he was never too high or too low. He was the same guy, win or lose. But in the end, he was a flawed manager. He put to high a value on versatility and character and not on talent. If you could play five positions, you were a Wedge guy. I mean seriously, did we really need to see Ryan Garko in left field? Every single day, unless your name was Grady Sizemore, you may not know where you were batting or what position you were playing when you arrived at the ballpark. I think the relationship he had with Shapiro may have been a great idea on paper, but in reality, you cannot have co-ceo’s. There has to be a balance. Shapiro should have picked the players, and Wedge should have gone with what Shapiro gave him. Too often Wedge’s decisions seemed to overide what the GM was thinking – case in point, Phillips.

But this is all about wins and losses. Not many managers could have survived seven years with just one playoff appearance, no matter what market you are in. Wedge somehow managed to do so. For that, I commend him. But now we move on to Manny Acta, and the grind is no more.