Two ace pitchers go arm in arm

Left jab tonight, right hook tomorrow night. Or is it left hook, then right jab?

Either way, it matters not. The Cleveland Indians are confident they're throwing a 1-2 pitching punch at the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series that is the best in the majors - and it's hard to argue they're not.

"They're talented, extremely talented," said John Farrell, a man whose opinion regarding C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona is not just hyperbole. Before being named Red Sox pitching coach this season, Farrell served for five years as Cleveland's director of player development, and arguably the two finest gems mined in that tenure were Sabathia and Carmona.

"They form a big challenge, a 1-2 punch," said Farrell of Sabathia (19-8, 3.21), who goes tonight against Josh Beckett, and Carmona (19-8, 3.06), who'll square off against Curt Schilling tomorrow.

While they're not quite ready in Cleveland to dismantle the mythical shrine erected to Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, and Mike Garcia in the early 1950s, the Sabathia-Carmona duo is impressive - big, strong men with blazing speed who both can pound the strike zone with a variety of pitches.

There is no reason to question Farrell's true allegiance in this series. But neither can he hide that sense of professional pride that comes from seeing a onetime project shine.

"They have," said Farrell, "learned from their experiences."

Never was there a question as to how much talent rested within the 6-foot-7-inch, 290-pound frame of Sabathia. The native of Vallejo, Calif., was simply a mountain of a man who could throw as much heat as needed. Power was never a problem; channeling his emotions was.

"He has made some adjustments to his game - mentally, physically, fundamentally, emotionally, the whole nine yards," said Cleveland manager Eric Wedge, who was hired in 2003. By then, Sabathia was a bona fide project firmly entrenched in the starting rotation. The lefthander had gone 17-5 as a rookie in 2001 to help get the Indians into the playoffs, but he slumped to 13-11 the following season.

Wedge understood he had to be patient with his prized lefthander.

He always wore his hat a bit crooked, which seemed fitting, because it never appeared that his head was fully twisted on and into the game. Then, to compound matters, a series of emotional shocks affected Sabathia greatly. In a six-month span, there were the deaths of his father, Carsten Charles, for whom he was named; an uncle; and a cousin. Sabathia was 13-9 in Wedge's rookie season, then he moved backward, going 11-10 in 2004.

"I think when you look back to the middle of '05, [that's] when he really transitioned into the pitcher you see today," said Wedge.

Sabathia went 15-10 that season, but the numbers don't tell the story. Not to Wedge. Instead, the manager noticed a transition, a calmer demeanor in his big, hard-throwing lefthander. What struck Wedge then is what struck him about Sabathia on the eve of this ALCS.

"I mean, obviously there are some fundamental things that he's worked through, but he's just a young man that's grown up on the field at the major league level," said Wedge. "He's 27 years old and he's [already] been playing [in the major leagues] for seven years. It's incredible what he's accomplished."

His leadership has shined through in ways the Indians had always hoped it would. Whereas tough losses used to stick with Sabathia like gum to the bottom of shoes, a stretch of defeats midway through 2007 hardly ruffled him. There was a 1-0 loss against Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox, a 2-1 nail-biter in Kansas City, and a no-decision in a 1-0 defeat to Cincinnati.

Instead of getting emotionally spent, Sabathia recovered from a 5-5 June and July to go 2-1 in August and 4-0 in September.

What made it sweeter for Wedge was the fact he could hand the ball to Carmona the next night.

You needn't rush to the media guide in great wonderment. We are talking about the same Fausto Carmona who was at the center of a pair of dramatic Red Sox rallies during the 2006 season. At the tender age of 22, Carmona in midseason woke up one morning and discovered that the Tribe had traded closer Bob Wickman.

Ah, kid, forget that setup stuff. You've been promoted.

"We moved him into the closer role and he failed on a scale that was unprecedented," general manager Mark Shapiro told The New York Times.

There were back-to-back leads he failed to protect at Fenway Park, and within three weeks, Carmona had lost five games. But if the Dominican native discovered anything in that stretch, it was that the organization was staunchly behind him.

"That created a concern we didn't have," said Shapiro. "His personality was a strong, tough one."

Farrell was with the Indians organization then, and agreed with Shapiro.

"He came back in September and threw three very good starts," said Farrell.

"And he's carried that into this year."

How so? Consider that his 3.06 ERA was second among AL starters behind only the Angels' John Lackey. Or that after going 1-3 in August, Carmona matched Sabathia pitch for pitch in a sparkling September, going 5-0 with a 1.78 ERA.

That's right, Cleveland's 1-2 pitching punch is a combined 9-0 in crunch time, Sabathia not having lost since Aug. 24, Carmona since Aug. 21.

Nowhere did the maturity of Sabathia and the raw talent of Carmona shine through more than in the Division Series against New York. When Wedge tabbed his massive lefty to start the opener, unflattering numbers accompanied that news: Sabathia was 1-7 with a 7.13 ERA against the Yankees.

Again, Wedge based his decision not on numbers but on being an eyewitness to what Sabathia has meant to his ball club. Besides, the reality was, Sabathia hadn't pitched against the Yankees since 2004, and as far as Wedge was concerned, that was one year before the big man learned to control his emotions - though the Cleveland ace concedes he fell back into bad habits in Game 1.

"Just a case of me overthrowing," said Sabathia, who had rare control problems. He walked six in five innings, but the four hits and three runs he yielded proved harmless as the Indians rolled, 12-3.

Longtime Indians observers actually came away impressed with Sabathia, for the lefthander showed great composure on a night when plate umpire Bruce Froemming employed a strike zone as if Eddie Gaedel were constantly at bat.

Even greater composure was evident the following evening when the dreaded mayflies barraged the players at Jacobs Field. The bugs were everywhere, though Yankee fans will attempt to convince you that only Joba Chamberlain had to deal with them. Truth is, Carmona was covered, too - only it was the Cleveland youngster and not the Yankee phenom who handled the adversity better. Nowhere was his poise more brilliant than in the ninth, when he struck out Alex Rodriguez for the third time to keep the score tied, 1-1.

From hundreds of miles away, Farrell watched with great interest. He had a hand in developing a lot of players in Cleveland. None are more prominent than the two young starters.