Steve Stone

That's how he's going to get people out.

And so David Sandlin showed the Twins just six days ago exactly how he was going to get them out to the best of his ability using his best stuff.

Having done that,

A veteran pitcher would know to deviate from that and use a couple of different pitches and use a couple of different areas.

But it's very tough for a young pitcher to do that.

And when you're facing a team, and they've got some good hitters on this team.

I mean, Buxton's a terrific hitter, and Lord knows Gray against us has been a good hitter.

Former White Sox, it looks like he has a vendetta against the Sox.

These guys can swing the bat a bit.

For some reason, we see Clemens starting to hit the ball real well.

And so they just took advantage of a very young pitcher in his second start, and they did him in, but they did him in largely because of walks, and they hit the ball a whole lot harder than last time.

Look, it's unrealistic to assume that he's going to be able to do what he did in his first start.

You retire 18 in a row of a major league team in this year's first start ever, and you really are not going to duplicate that any time soon.

So somewhere in between his first start and last night lies the real David Sandlin.

We're going to find out over the next few starts because I'm pretty sure he's going to get them as the Sox look for an addition to their starting rotation.

And then we'll see.

He's got very good stuff.

He's got a lot of poise, and we'll see if he bounces back.

This was a very tough outing, but this league teaches you lessons each and every time you start.

As far as the two-team race, I think it's too early to call it.