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To say that manager Dave Trembley was impressed with Brian Matusz would be one of the biggest understatements of the year.

"Matusz had all his pitches working for him today. All of them," Trembley said. "He had a great tempo, didn't force it. I thought the only time he really started forcing it is when the guy was on third. Then he tried to force it, tried to quicken himself up and maybe throw a little bit too hard. But he doesn't need to do that.

"His arm speed was very good on all four pitches today, and I think that was probably the Matusz we all know. I mean, there have been times this year where I think a lot of these kids think harder is better and faster is better and quicker is better. And that's not how he pitches. He pitches nice and easy so he gets some movement with his fastball and he can pitch in and the other pitches come out of his hand real loose. That's how he pitched in spring training right there. That was vintage Matusz.

"He's going to win so many games because he pitches in, pitches out, mixes them up. He gets guys caught in between and they can't pull the trigger. He was very, very, very good today."

I asked Trembley whether Matusz had his best curveball today.

"I thought all his pitches were the best," Trembley replied. "His secondary pitches were very good today, but I thought the reason they were so good was because his fastball set everything up for him. When you talk to him later, he'll tell you some things, for sure, but he's been trying to force it. He'd been trying to throw hard. We don't want him throwing 93, 94. We don't want him doing that. We don't want him muscling the ball, trying to force it.

"His curveball was good, but it all comes off his fastball and his delivery. His delivery was the same all day."

The game could have gotten away from Matusz in the sixth, but he held the Indians to one run.

"He didn't speed the game up," Trembley said. "I think that's what he showed us when he won his first game against Detroit in the fifth, when he had two guys on and two guys in the middle of the lineup. He stays away from speeding the game up. When I say speeding the game up, I mean trying to be so fast and so quick and try to overpower and try to throw the ball through the wall, try to get it all done yourself. He doesn't do that. He doesn't put his foot all the way down on the peddle. If anything, he backs off. And he just allows his stuff to work for him."

Matusz sped through the seventh on only five pitches, and he was done for the day.

"I thought he made some adjustments and he was fine," Trembley said. "But if he would have had a guy on in the seventh, he would have been hooked. I wouldn't let him go over 100 pitches today."

As for the automatic ball that allowed the Indians to get their first baserunner in the fourth, Trembley agreed with the call and considered it a lesson learned. Matusz put his hand to his mouth while standing on the mound and got caught.

"He knows he went to his mouth," Trembley said. "We've been telling a lot of these young guys not to do that. You had a guy out there who won't miss it.

"I've seen a lot of guys do it, coming out of high school and college. It's just a habit. I see a lot of guys go to the bottom of the mound and they're really not all the way off the dirt and I'll yell to the umpire, 'Make them get on the grass.'

"A lot of guys, that would have played with their head probably and got them out of sync. He regrouped. (Chris) Tillman was the first guy who saw him down in the runway and told him what he did. Tillman's guilty of it, as well. He's gotten a little better."

While on the subject of getting better, Felix Pie is batting .383 with three doubles, a triple, five home runs, 12 RBIs and 10 runs scored in his last 16 games.

"Pie has improved since the All-Star break," Trembley said. "Moving (Aubrey) Huff has opened up a spot in the lineup for Pie. We told him he was going to get the majority of playing time against right-handed pitching and this is an opportunity for him coming down the last 35 games or so to show what he's got and then go home this winter and put it to bed and see what you've got for next year. And so far he's doing a real nice job. He's taking advantage of his opportunity."

Trembley was asked about Ty Wigginton lowering a shoulder into Indians catcher Wyatt Toregas in the third inning. Toregas made the tag while backing up. It was mostly self defense.

"He was a runaway freight train is what he was," Trembley said.