Patrick Reusse: Looks like young starter Slowey took a 'great lesson' to heart

Kevin Slowey entered this season with four victories and 11 starts in the major leagues.

Glen Perkins had zero victories in 23 relief appearances. Nick Blackburn had zero victories in six relief appearances.

These gentlemen -- aged 24 (Slowey), 25 (Perkins) and 26 (Blackburn) -- make up 60 percent of the starting rotation for a Twins team that this morning is 1 1/2 games removed from first place in the American League Central.

As a group, the inexperienced trio has pitched admirably, yet they couldn't be blamed for a mild sense of being on probation.

The reason would be the growing clamor that Francisco Liriano, the sensation from the summer of '06, should be provided a place in the rotation for the season's final two-month push.

The urge to look over a shoulder might have been strongest with Slowey, since his previous three starts had ranged from so-so to lousy. He was 1-1 in those starts, while allowing 15 runs and 19 hits in 15 innings.

The shadow of Liriano stretching from Rochester, N.Y., was low on the list of pressures Slowey faced on Monday night.

Slowey was facing Mark Buehrle, a lefthander with a career record of 115-83. Twenty-one of those victories came against the Twins -- second only to Mike Mussina's 22 among active pitchers.

There was also this: Slowey last faced the White Sox on June 8, in the middle of a four-game blowout in Chicago. He had his worst start, allowing 10 hits and eight runs in three innings.

There was your matchup: Buehrle, crusty, fast-working lefty with impeccable control, vs. Slowey, inexperienced, fast-working righthander required to have impeccable control.

It turned into a mismatch -- in the kid's favor. Slowey pitched his second shutout, a six-hitter in a 7-0 final. Buerhle lasted five innings and allowed five runs (four earned). The game turned on two-run bombs from Denard Span (career No. 1) and Justin Morneau (straightaway center) in the third.

Later, Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen saw Buehrle indulging in the postgame spread and in pure Ozzie fashion said: "I had to wait five days for that!"

Apparently, Fantasy Football doesn't occupy much of Ozzie's time.

Down the hall, Slowey claimed the pressures of his first full season in the Twins' rotation aren't occupying his thoughts.

"Did you feel like you needed a start like this after the past three?" he was asked.

His response: "Not really. After the last start in New York, what [pitching coach] Rick Anderson said was that I threw the ball very well and ran into a little trouble at the end.

"The Twins don't put pressure on you after a bad start. They talk about what you can do to be better next time."

"It looked like he was missing location the first two, three innings," he said. "He got away with a few pitches early, and then we got him some runs in the bottom of the third and he found his groove.

"The last six innings ... he was very good. He shut out the Brewers last month and now these guys. That's some excellent pitching, against those two lineups."

Last time he faced Chicago, Slowey was sitting glumly in front of his cubicle.

Livan Hernandez, the Twins' lone veteran starter, walked over and said: "You know, there are going to be more of these."

Message: Get over it.

"And then he went back out and threw eight innings. It wasn't a win, but when you watched him react like that ... it was a great lesson for the young starters on this team."