Carmona, who won 19 games a year ago, pitched six solid innings in his final start of the spring, limiting the Braves to one run and four hits. Cleveland won the game, 7-1.

"Fausto threw the ball well," said Indians manager Eric Wedge. "I thought he did a good job with his rhythm and tempo. He used all of his pitches, he was down -- it was a good day for him."

The powerful 24-year-old righty pitched through the sixth inning for the second straight start. He threw 99 pitches, including 59 for strikes, as he raised his spring record to 3-1. Most important, he finished the six innings at the pitch limit Wedge had set for him.

Carmona, who limited opponents to three runs or fewer in 27 of his 32 starts last season, didn't allow more than three runs in any of his five spring starts and enters the regular season with a four-start unbeaten streak. He considers the spring a success, having accomplished the goals he'd set for himself.

"He was trying to work on every pitch, which he did," first-base coach Luis Rivera relayed from Carmona. "He used his fastball, his changeup and his slider, and he worked on keeping the ball down, because that's the way his sinker is going to be good for him -- if he keeps the ball down. It had good sink. He was happy for the way things went."

On Friday, that sinker translated into nine ground-ball outs, including a double-play grounder by Mark Teixeira that ended the sixth and Carmona's spring.

After retiring the first six Braves he faced, the Tribe starter allowed his only run in the third inning on a Mark Kotsay single, a stolen base and a two-out RBI single by Kelly Johnson. Carmona proceeded to retire the next five batters. Then he pitched out of a first-and-second, one-out jam in the fifth by inducing a groundout to second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera, then getting help from Grady Sizemore, who made a diving catch on a Johnson looper to short center.

Carmona, who will face the White Sox on Tuesday night, finished the spring with a 3.48 ERA (eight runs in 20 2/3 innings), allowing 22 hits, only one of them a home run. He believes the experience he gained last season will make him a wiser pitcher in 2008.

"It's more like he's learning how to focus," said Rivera. "He's learning the hitters. It's going to be his second year in the league, so he's going to be learning the hitters and he's going to go start by start, try to learn something from every start and learn about the hitters."

And while temperatures at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Tuesday could fall into the low 30's by game time, Carmona is not concerned.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I don't think about that. I think about pitching.

"I'm ready for the season," he added with a smile.