Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta 149-175 in two seasons with Cleveland.
(Carlos Osorio/Associated Press)

The Cleveland Indians have picked up manager Manny Acta’s contract option for 2013.

Acta kept the Indians in contention for much of this season before injuries overwhelmed the young club, which finished second in the AL Central. Cleveland went 80-82, an 11-game improvement over last season.

Acta was signed through 2012, and the Indians rewarded him by exercising the option for 2013. He’s 149-175 in two seasons with Cleveland.

Acta’s staff already has undergone radical change for next season. On Wednesday, bench coach Tim Tolman disclosed he has Parkinson’s disease and will not be back, and pitching coach Tim Belcher stepped down to spend more time with his family.

The downtown ballpark, pulsating at times this season like it
hasn’t in years, suddenly filled with a familiar chant.

Manny Acta swears he didn’t hear it.

As the Indians’ second-year manager walked coolly back to the
dugout after being ejected for arguing a close play that didn’t go
his team’s way in the eighth inning against Boston, Acta’s eyes
stayed fixed on the green grass under his cleats as Cleveland fans
serenaded him.

“Man-ny, Man-ny,” they sang.

Acta joked that it was for a former Indians star, the Manny with
dreadlocks.

“It could have been Manny Ramirez walking into the stadium right
then,” he quipped. “There are a bunch of Mannys in this game.”

But in Cleveland, there’s only one Manny _ the manager of the
best team in baseball.

While others shake and scratch their heads at the Indians’ early
success, now a nearly two-month run fueled by remarkable starting
pitching, solid defense, contributions by the entire lineup and a
little luck despite a rash of key injuries, the 42-year-old Acta
isn’t surprised at all.

He expected the Indians to win, demanded it of them, really,
since the first day of training camp. They’re right where he
figured they’d be.

But don’t think for a second that he’s satisfied.

“Everyone of these guys knows it’s a long season, you can never
get satisfied,” he said. “There’s a long ways to go. We can’t be
doing any jumping up and down. It’s pretty good right now, but I
want to be 45-0. I’ve got a right to have expectations, right? As
high and as improbable as that might sound.”

The Indians are winning, and a sizable chunk of the credit has
to go to Acta.

“He has been doing an incredible job,” second baseman Orlando
Cabrera said. “I have been really impressed with his attitude, the
way he prepares himself. Before every series, he’s incredible. Oh
my God, the attention to detail is unreal. He gets up early every
morning and reads every single research paper and number they (the
Indians’ front office) give to him.

“Not too many guys prepare themselves like that.”

Nothing seems out of reach for these Indians, who recently won
14 straight at home and have made walk-off wins so common at
Progressive Field that the team could almost hype them along with
their other game-night promotions.

Acta, an interesting blend of smarts (he’s an avid reader) and
swagger, has his players believing anything is possible as long as
they remain patient and work hard.

That’s what’s gotten him here, and it’s where he intends to
stay.

He’s not going to blow his second _ and maybe last _ chance as a
big-league manager.

Acta spent two tough seasons in Washington, where he did as much
babysitting as managing. The Nationals lost 252 games in 2 1/2
seasons under Acta, who didn’t have enough talent to overcome
numerous injuries that altered his lineup.

It was much the same way during his first season in Cleveland.
Injuries forced the Indians to play rookies who weren’t ready. But
they finished strong, posting the league’s third-best record in the
second half, a surge that convinced Acta his team was ready to
contend in 2011.

With his team sitting atop the AL Central, Acta was asked what
the season has meant to him.

“Rewarding,” he said. “It reassures me that patience is what it
takes. It’s being patient and continuing to work, and at the end of
the day, good things are going to happen.”

Acta has been pushing all the right buttons.

He’s done an exceptional job with his pitching staff, knowing
exactly when to pull his starter or let him try to get one more
out. The Indians have been aggressive on the basepaths, and Acta
has shown a knack for calling for a bunt in a tight spot.

Last week, he told rookie Ezequiel Carrera to bunt _ if he saw a
good pitch _ in the eighth inning of a tie game with Cincinnati.
Carrera’s first at-bat in the majors turned into a one-pitch,
game-winning RBI single. How’s that for having a ‘feel’ for the
game?

The next day, outfielder Travis Buck, filling in at designated
hitter for the injured Travis Hafner, came back to the dugout after
a pair of weak at-bats only to have Acta give him an earful. Acta
was stern with Buck, but not condescending or abusive.

Acta wanted more, and he didn’t waste a single word in telling
Buck, who was initially shocked.

“He lit a fire under me,” Buck said. “His tone was intense. I
didn’t really know how to take it. I’ve never had a manager say
something like that to me and want to pull for me as hard as he
did. It made sense. It took me a couple minutes for me to figure it
out. It made me realize how much confidence I need to have in
myself, and how much he had in me.”

His next time up, Buck hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the
seventh inning as the Indians beat the Reds, 2-1.

Cleveland’s players love Acta’s straightforward approach. He’s
demanding, not demeaning. He’s honest, sometimes brutally, with
them and makes sure everyone on the 25-man roster knows what’s
expected of them. But for every kick in the pants, he offers a pat
on the back.

Acta also know his place. He respects the sanctity of the
clubhouse, and won’t interfere with the players’ business unless he
has to.

“He leaves us alone,” Cabrera said. “He’s a guy who says, ‘You
guys handle your stuff and I’ll handle mine.’ I’ve told some of the
guys, you have no idea how good you have it here. Most managers
aren’t that way.”

The reaction following Acta’s ejection _ the Indians wound up
rallying to beat the Red Sox after he got tossed _ caught several
players off guard. It’s rare to see fans cheering and chanting for
a manager, but Acta has become a man(ny) of the people.

One of his first duties each morning, is to connect with his
followers on Twitter. He reluctantly joined the social website at
the team’s urging before the season, but has grown to enjoy it.
And, it’s not the only thing he’s having fun with these days.

“I can’t complain with my life right now,” he said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Cleveland, Ohio — Asdrubal Cabrera and Michael Brantley should be driving cars with manual transmissions. Why? Because they’re both so dang good in the clutch.

Hey, YOU try coming up with new superlatives for this Indians team every day. It’s not easy, but it sure is fun. Almost as much fun as it is to go to the sites of those who cover the teams the Tribe is beating. We all know that preseason predictions by all the “experts” had the Indians hunkered down in the AL cellar, trying to avoid the Minnesota or Chicago or Detroit storms wreaking havoc on the division.

Check out this post-mortem from the Boston Globe’s website:

The Red Sox were a team in disarray when they left Cleveland April 7. A season of great expectations had started with six consecutive losses, three of them coming against an Indians team supposedly in its latest stage of rebuilding.

The Sox returned to Progressive Field last night as contenders, having clawed their way to within a half-game of first place. But as far as the Indians were concerned, the visitors were simply more fodder.

For the second time in three nights, the Sox missed a chance to move into first place as both the Rays and Yankees lost. It’s hard to say what is a bigger surprise — that Cleveland has the best record in baseball at 30-15 or that the American League East has turned into a junkyard of mediocre teams.

Really, isn’t that sort of typical? Can’t give the Tribe credit for being good. No, gotta couch it in terms of how bad everyone else who matters — i.e., the AL East — is.

Look, we’re not 100 percent sure just how long this ride is gonna last. It could over tomorrow (not that we think it will be). But at least let Tribe fans enjoy what’s shaping up as a miraculously fun season.

Around the horn
* — The Boston-based site nesn.com hinted that walking Asdrubal Cabrera might’ve been the better decision.

* — SI.com credits the trades that brought Asdrubal Cabrera and others to the Indians as the reason the team’s elevation into the cream of the baseball crop.

* — Manny Acta’s first ejection of the season — he was tossed after arguing that pitcher Justin Masterson beat Jacoby Ellsbury to first — gets some credit for the win in Zac Wassink’s blog for yahoo.com.

* — Gamingtoday.com calls the Indians the best story in baseball.

* — Chris Assenheimer of the Chronicle-Telegram dubs the Indians the Windians after last night’s come-from-behind win.

* — Washington Nationals blogger Joe Drugan, who writes a piece called DCapitol Baseball, says Nats fans should be happy for their fired ex-manager, Cleveland skipper Manny Acta.

From The Plain Dealer
Paul Hoynes’ game story in today’s paper goes into a little more detail about Acta’s premature exit:

The end came for Masterson and Acta in the eighth. Acta was ejected by first-base umpire Rob Drake for arguing after Jacoby Ellsbury was called safe at first. Drake said Masterson didn’t touch first taking Matt LaPorta’s flip on Ellsbury’s grounder.

Masterson said he touched the bag. Acta, ejected for the first time this year, said he was upset because Drake wouldn’t listen to him.

“He didn’t want to hear what I had to say,” said Acta. “I thought that was disrespectful. Masterson said he touched the bag. We looked at the video and he did.”

As Acta left the field, the crowd chanted “Manny, Manny, Manny.”

Said Masterson, “It was good to see Manny come out and have our backs.”

If Grady Sizemore comes off the disabled list at the end of this week, as he’s eligible to do, the success of Michael Brantley, Travis Buck and others gives Acta a lot of options, Hoynsie says in his Indians Insider column.

Columnist Bill Livingston noted that Tribe second baseman has a history of winning … and breaking curses.