Pep talk

This calls for drastic measures.
After the Indians fell further toward the edge of the cliff with a 1-0 loss to the Devil Rays Wednesday night, I need to exercise journalistic license I don't really have.
I have to take over Eric Wedge's mind and give the Indians a pep talk today. They've come too far to die in the season's final week.

I am imagining Wedge standing in the middle of the Indians' clubhouse, players silent, their heads hanging. Like all of us, they want to know what is going wrong...

"I think you guys are forgetting one key point I've been preaching to you all season: you are in control. The pennant race doesn't rule you, you rule it.
"When you start running scared, start counting the days off until the end of the season, start looking ahead to the White Sox, you give up that control. And you start playing scared. You start playing tense. You start believing all the tripe about how each loss could kill your season.
"Teams that play with clear heads are teams that win playoff berths. You guys, each one of you, has been so good at taking things from at-bat to at-bat, inning to inning, game to game this season. This has been a team in the truest sense.
"Now, I'm seeing guys going up there, hacking away, trying to hit home runs. You can't make things happen like that in this game. You know that. You need to use the same approach you used to get back into this thing over the past few months.
"Back in July, no one expected us to be here, and we played with no pressure. We enjoyed taking the league by storm. Now, we are considered contenders. Rightfully so. We are one of the best teams in baseball, and nobody can dispute that.
"But you can't bow to the pressure just beacuse more eyes are on you now. You are playing like you are going to let the whole team, the whole city down if you don't make the playoffs. Forget that.
"Even if you don't make the playoffs, this experience of being in the playoff race will serve all of you well in future years. You will take something positive away from this regardless. You have to believe that.
So don't look at the scoreboard. Don't even worry about the score. Don't worry about what is going on in New York or Boston or Chicago, or even in your own game. Scoreboard watching is counter-productive this time of year, especially when you are losing. Worry about what you are doing right here, right now, and doing that well.
"Clearing your head in a tense moment is something you have to learn how to do. It's a job skill, and a valuable one. You can't wait for the situation to change. This time of year, it won't. And it all goes back to being in control.
No matter how far you have to break in down in your head, even if you have to go from pitch to pitch, I want you to take things slowly, incrementally. Don't worry about tomorrow, yesterday, or what's going on in another city. Don't worry about the fans, the papers or the TV cameras.
We are a good team. We are capable of making the playoffs, and making the playoffs is an achievement, not an obligation. Acheivements, especially in baseball, are made slowly, inches at a time. Just because you are coming down the home stretch, you cannot lose sight of that.
You guys are too good, and too disciplined of a team, to lose your grip at the end. When you go out there tonight, I want you to remember that."