CLEVELAND -- The embedded memory from that fateful week in August 2006 is of Fausto Carmona raising his arms to the sky in frustration, catcher Victor Martinez placing his arm around him and manager Eric Wedge walking with him up the tunnel and into the solemn visitors' dugout at Comerica Park.

That's the moment where the Indians could have lost the young Carmona.

When Carmona gave up a two-run, walkoff homer to Ivan Rodriguez on Aug. 5 of last year, it capped a week that saw him lose four games, blow three saves and become one of baseball's go-to punchlines.

It was his first and last week as the Indians' closer, and it could have been a career-defining stretch.

As it turns out, that period was a test not only for Carmona but also for a coaching staff that set out to protect him.

"You just really want to guard against losing a guy and him losing all confidence," pitching coach Carl Willis said. "There was no reason for him to. He was put in situations that guys who are prominent closers in the game might struggle with. He had no reason to get too down, other than he felt he let his team down."

Fast forward to the present tense, and Carmona is picking his team up. His performance in place of Cliff Lee in April and Jake Westbrook in May has been instrumental in the club's first-place, 34-21 start.

"If you want to talk about a guy who's been as important to us as anybody, it's Fausto Carmona," Wedge said recently. "To have a guy that you can plug in as one of your starting five, and to pitch the way he's pitched, arguably he's been as important to us as anyone, early on."

Coming off a 2006 season in which he went 1-10 with a 5.42 ERA, Carmona is now 6-1 with a 3.29 mark. He has solidified his place in the Tribe's rotation, even after Westbrook returns.

But while it might seem the strides Carmona made between '06 and '07 are the ones that got him to this point, it's actually the period from August to September of last year that was instrumental in his remarkable turnaround.

The Indians took a humbled Carmona and built up both his confidence and his arm as a starter at Triple-A Buffalo. They handed him video of White Sox starter Jon Garland as an example of the poise they hoped to see on the mound. And, perhaps most importantly, they drilled the idea in his head that they still believed in him, the blown saves notwithstanding.

It doesn't take a baseball-savvy scout to see and appreciate Carmona's raw stuff. When he has control of his mid-90s sinker, it's one of the best in the game.

The Indians knew this, but they also knew getting Carmona back on track would be a reclamation project of the first degree.

The key decision that spurred that project was the one to stretch the right-hander back out as a starter toward the end of a season in which an internal debate raged as to which role best suited Carmona's talents.

"A lot of that had to do with our [starting] depth, which is always a good problem to have," Willis said. "But also, he has that ability to [get hitters to] put the ball on the ground and come in and throw one pitch to get two outs. I think he certainly benefits from the starter's routine and knowing when he's going to pitch and the ability to prepare, as opposed to coming in every day with an opportunity to pitch."

Part of Carmona's preparation centered on gaining the mental discipline to remain sharp, even when an at-bat or an inning gets out of hand. He had a penchant for letting his emotions get the best of him, but the Indians pointed to Garland as an example of a pitcher who trusts his stuff enough to know he can work out of even the prickliest of jams.

"Fausto always had his stuff," Willis said. "Last year, it was just a matter of him having his first exposure to the big leagues and trying to throw a little harder. That caused him to get out of his delivery a little bit."

Carmona returned from a two-week stint with Buffalo last fall and made four September starts for the Indians. He was battered for five runs in just three innings at Chicago on Sept. 9 -- an outing that was a prime example of his tendency to get out of rhythm.

But over his last three starts, Carmona allowed just five runs on 14 hits over 17 innings, holding the opposition to a .226 average against. He worked six innings in each of his last two starts and struck out six in his final start against the White Sox on Sept. 27.

After making eight starts in the Dominican Winter League, Carmona reported to Spring Training camp this year refreshed and ready to claim his spot as the club's first depth option at Buffalo.

And when that depth was counted on earlier than expected by virtue of Lee's abdominal strain, Carmona proved up to the task. He was solid in April (2-1, 3.76 ERA in four starts) and downright dazzling in May (4-0, 2.25 in five starts).

"I feel better now, because I'm learning," Carmona recently said through an interpreter. "Every time I've pitched [in the big leagues], I've learned something."

The opposition has learned to appreciate Carmona's nasty sinker, which Martinez said Carmona could probably use as each and every pitch in a given outing and still have success.

After Carmona blanked the Twins in a complete-game, four-hitter on May 17, Minnesota outfielder Torii Hunter told reporters of that sinker, "It was so scary, I thought I was hungover."

To his credit, Carmona hasn't experienced any hangover from his rough-and-tumble ride as the Tribe's closer. Now, he's one of the club's most reliable arms, and the embedded image is one of Carmona pumping his fist in celebration.

"What he went through on the mental side, it speaks highly of him to come back and do what he's doing now," Willis said. "We always felt he could do what he's doing. But I don't think anyone could sit here and honestly say that we thought he'd do it this quickly. But it's been fun to watch."