Just re-read Posnanski, and you have to love this quote from Charlie Manuel about Cliff Lee. It is classic Manuel, no?

"Most of the time when he starts a game, and he's in control of the game, and everything around it he's controlling — he's throwing strikes and he's getting the ball, what I call he handles the flow of the game, if you know what I mean. Everybody about it. The flow of the game, the way the game goes.

"Not only does he have command of the game, but he has the flow of the game. To me he sets the tone by his rhythm, getting the ball back, and he knows what he's going to throw. I like the way he pitches. I like everything about how he goes about it. But that's part of his success, too, is the fact that's how he handles the game."

OK … so Cliff Lee won the first game of the World Series and looked pretty good doing it.

OK … he looked great doing it.

OK … he dominated. I mean … 10 strikeouts … a complete game, the first in a World Series since 1995. Pretty good.

And … yes … he used to pitch for the Indians.

And yes, the Indians might have gift-wrapped the Phillies their second World Series title in a row (though they do have some other good players and a pretty good mana … umm … never mind).

But while Joe Posnanski marvels at Lee's lack of nerves, we in Cleveland understand what we saw. Because we know that Lee is just "out there" enough to be able to shrug off nerves in his first World Series game.

It's what he does.

At least it's what he's done the last two seasons.

Manny Acta conducted an interesting interview with the media following his interview with the Indians on Monday. He clearly sounded like he’s the guy for the Indians, though there are others who will interview.

Or it could have just been the way Acta talks.

He used the imperial “we” and “our.” A lot. He said he’d been studying the Indians the final month of the season, and said: “I don’t think any of you guys have any idea how long we’ve been in contact.” He also said he knew nothing about the Browns but he’d support them “because I’m here.”

For a day at least.

This did not sound like a casual, pro-forma interview. It sounded like a guy the Indians are very serious about hiring – either as manager or bench coach.

And Acta seemed like an incredibly good, upbeat and impressive guy who has a lot of in-depth thoughts and plans regarding the Indians.

Among the comments I found interesting:

–“Hopefully Fausto (Carmona) can bounce back.”

If Acta can get Carmona back to the form he showed in 2007, he should get a lifetime contract.

–“It’s about bringing the right attitude right off the bat and convincing these guys, making them believe that with any little improvement in our starting rotation and bullpen that we’re ready to win here.”

Note the use of the first person plural pronoun.

–“The main thing in the American League is having power arms. This is a hitting league. There’s no break after the seventh hitter like in the NL.”

Interesting given many of the Indians starters are soft-throwing lefties.

How is that CC Sabathia struggled so much in Cleveland when the Indians were in the playoffs, yet with the Yankees he’s 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in the AL Championship Series and 1-0 and 1.35 in the Division Series? Shouldn’t he have been just as unhittable when he won the Cy Young Award for the Indians in 2007? His not winning Game 5 of the ALCS against Boston remains one of the downers of the decade.

That guy who pitched the shutout for the Philadelphia Phillies last night was some guy named Lee. Said Pedro Martinez of him: “Cliff is some kind of phenom.  It’s just something beautiful to watch. From the outside, especially, when you can see the little details. See, pitching is like an art. And Cliff is actually doing that like one of the best.”
Carlos Carrasco better be able to pitch.

How good was Lee? Here's his pitch chart (thanks to brooksbaseball.net):

And here's another chart showing how he changed speeds:

Yes, he was pretty good.

Here’s a whole page of kind of cool charts and things about Lee’s game, thanks to PitchFX and Brooks.

Carlos Carrasco best be able to pitch.

The Indians will be interviewing Manny Acta tomorrow, the first in a series of interviews to hire a new manager.

CC Sabathia wins the first game for the Yankees. Cliff Lee pitches a complete game for Philadelphia. Braylon Edwards heads to the Jets. Only from Cleveland.

You may continue with the Ted Wiliams cracks if you like, but I'm trying to raise the level. Yesterday I said I'd include some of the transcript from Eric Wedge's news conference the day it was announced he would not be back. He was never better. Here's some excerpts:

Did he get a fair shot?

"I'm the manager of the team. It's my job to go out and win ballgames. There's not an asterisk next to it that says, 'only if you have this, that or the other.' It's your job. I'm a big believer in being accountable for what you do. I preach it to the players. I preach it to people around me. That's the way I live. I take responsibility for this."

Is it harder to win in baseball market this size?

"It's more difficult and it's more challenging but it's also more rewarding. What we came pretty close to doing in '07 is pretty special stuff."

On his values:

"How our players play, how they act. The way they represent the Cleveland Indians. The way they play the game. You always hear me talk about respecting the game and being a good teammate. They're the two most important things that I think you can do in this game. Then you have to go out and play well on top of that."

Did he learn from the disappointment of 2007?

"I would be a poor manager and a poor leader if I didn't learn from ultimately every situation I've been through in the past."

Could he win with the style of players he managed?

"It doesn't matter to me what type of team I have. I think it's my job to work off that and go out and win as many games as possible."

On the circumstances of being let go:

"The right thing to do is to handle it appropriately, professionally, and then move on."

Does the disappointment of 2007 linger?

"You can't harp on it, because if you harp on it you don't get to the next level. I remember after '05, (people said) 'oh we got so close we'll probably never get there again. Bulls—. I don't understand that. That's not the way I look at it. We will get there, and we'll surpass that. That's the way I looked at it from '07 on. Granted, I'm not going to have the opportunity to do that here. But I hope for all Tribe fans that the next guy that sits in this chair does have an opportunity to do that."

The future for the Indians?

"I was here back in the beginning. I understand really rebuilding. Starting from scratch. This is not that situation here in Cleveland. You need to understand that, fans need to understand that. You have a solid organization. You have solid leadership intact. You have a solid minor league system. You have a process here that works, in this market. So they're going to be fine."

On not showing more emotion to the public:

"It allows me to come out here every day and be the same guy for the players. The players are first and foremost. I'd rather (fans) get on me than the players. I'm OK with that."

On the concerns about his future:

It's not something you think about. I'm a big believer that you get busy doing your job. Don't worry about your job. If you worry about your job you're not doing your job."

Trying to catch up on current events while computer issues remain …

The Indians announced that Eric Wedge would not be back next season, a nice way of saying he’d been fired. This produces a lot of ambivalent feelings.

I’m not as virulently anti-Wedge as many folks seem to be. I don’t get all that upset about things when a really good guy does his best and things just don’t work out. It happens sometimes. I’m big on the quality of the person. It seems that kind of person deserves a lot of leeway – provided his decisions aren’t consistently preposterous.

Wedge made some head-scratchers, yes. Ryan Garko in the outfield. The constant juggling of lineups. Brandon Phillips. The complete regression of guys like Rafael Perez and Fausto Carmona.  The thing that always surprised me was how few moves were made during games, aside from monitoring pitchers. Once the lineup was posted, the game took over. At least that the way it seemed. Wedge didn’t do a lot of bunting, didn’t employ the hit-and-run a lot and didn’t have his guys aggressively running the bases. Yes, this could have easily been a result of the kind of player he had.

When he ha d a full deck, Wedge had two good years in three. That led to a Manager of the Year Award. Two bad years later and he’ll be looking for a job. GM Mark Shapiro and owner/president Paul Dolan both believe Wedge will manage another team soon, and do well. Shapiro even went as far as to say that Wedge probably will be more embraced and appreciated by fans now that he’s gone.

One thing was clear: Had Wedge communicated and expressed himself with the passion and feeling he did on Wednesday, he’d be viewed differently. Wedge was at his best during the farewell news conference; anyone who heard it had to be impressed (Perhaps I’ll try to post a transcript of some of that news conference here later).

One thing that was unfortunate was the way Wedge was judged on his appearance, his personal quirks, his little statements. Grinding. Separating. That kind of thing. The bottom line about the guy was that he worked hard, he cared and he represented the team and city well – and he made sure his players did the same. That matters.

Wedge isn’t made for TV. That’s clear. But if the guy can manage that shouldn’t matter. We always cry about character and that kind of thing, and then a guy who fits the values of a town perfectly comes along we cry because we don’t like his mannerisms. This does not seem completely fair.

The entire scenario about Wedge finishing the season seems a little odd, but that’s Wedge. He wanted to finish, and he believed it was the best thing for his players and the team. That’s actually a pretty admirable trait. And Wedge has a lot of admirable traits.

That being said, there are times when a team simply needs a change, when a new voice is needed. The tone of the news conference Wednesday indicated that Shapiro did not believe that time had arrived, but owners Paul and Larry Dolan did. So the move was made.

The fact that it produces ambivalent feelings might say enough about the situation. You’d like to be passionate about the manager, and Wedge did not produce passion. Not from me at least.

But … he did produce respect, from many quarters. Decry all the moves you like, but Wedge deserves our respect in return. And our thanks for doing everything he could every day to try to make it work. If it doesn’t work because of machinations and manipulations and mind games (like in Berea), that’s one thing. If it just doesn’t work despite honest effort and communication, that’s another.

Wedge is a good man who had a good run. With a new corps of young players coming along, his time simply came due.

Occasionally you stumble across a story or column that prompts thought. So it was with Joe Posnanski’s story on SI.com about Pittsburgh’s 17 consecutive losing seasons. Maybe I’m prejudiced toward Posnanski, because he’s a Cleveland guy. He and I also sat next to each other a few years back while covering a Ryder Cup in Valderrama, Spain, (sat next to each other when we weren’t stalking the course, of course). This was an assignment that on many levels was wonderful but in some ways was hell on earth because of logistics, etc. Long story.

In his research, Posnanski discovered that the Orioles have had 12 losing seasons in a row, and that the Reds were on the verge of their ninth. The Royals have more losses the past 17 years than Pittsburgh, and one winning season the past 15. He found several other teams that broke long streaks of consecutive losing seasons, and points out that there have been “20 streaks in baseball history where a team finished below .500 for 10 or more seasons in a row — and a quarter of those have come in the last decade.”

What to make of this?

His key point is this: “The truth is, there just aren't as many ways for a Pittsburgh or Kansas City or Cincinnati to turn things around. They can't compete for the best players in free agency — and what's worse is that because they can't compete for the Sabathias and Teixeiras and Beltrans, it becomes tempting to overpay for second-tier free agents like Jose Guillen or Danys Baez or Jeff Suppan. Those kinds of mistakes can devastate a small-revenue team. The draft is a pretty expensive spin of the roulette wheel. The richer teams spend more scouting and signing players all over the world. For those small-revenue teams, the walls are always closing in.”

Nobody likes to hear about market size and all that kind of stuff, but it’s reality. Especially in a system like baseball’s that encourages so much disparity.

Perhaps the Indians sufferings of the past two seasons should be taken, then, in a broader perspective. Yes, things have been bad the last two years, but this team has had 10 winning seasons while Pittsburgh has had none. Eight of Cleveland’s winning seasons came in the run of the ‘90s. But in the last 17 years, the longest streak of non-winning seasons was three, which came during the rebuild of 2002-04. That resulted in a winning seasons in 2005 and ’07.

Unfortunately the collapse of the last two seasons followed. It would seem like a lot of jobs will ride on how the next rebuild goes.

This not to say that the Indians deserve praise because they haven’t stunk like Pittsburgh or Kansas City. There’s no joy in saying: “Hoo hoo, we don’t suck!”

But … the reality of the situation also can’t be ignored.