Let me take you back a few years, to a time before the trades of CC, Cliff, or Victor.  We still had Jhonny at SS, and the Bearded Blunder at third.  We looked like a reasonably talented, if young, team.  The promise of the 2007 playoff team was starting to emerge, though it still felt a long way off.  It was late July of 2006, and Mark Shapiro had just traded Bob Wickman to the Atlanta Braves, leaving the Indians with a hole in the back-end of the bullpen.

In all of his Wedgian Wisdom, the Grinder turned to a shy, 22 year-old rookie who barely spoke a word of English and had been with the team all of three months to assume the interim closer duties.  And in a span of seven days, from July 30^th through August 5^th, Fausto Carmona recorded four losses and three blown saves, shattering an otherwise promising young pitcher’s confidence for the remainder of the season.  I still haven’t forgiven David Ortiz or Pudge Rodriguez for their roles in this debacle.  But above all, I remember blaming Wedge.  After Carmona’s fourth loss–the one that put Tom Mastny (!) in the closer’s role–I think I even remember watching Fausto do something worse than cry: he stood precariously on the mound with his arms hugging his head, looking very much like a kid who wanted to give up pitching forever. [Read more...]