Garcia shows he can still do the job

Not so fast, Daniel Hudson.

Before Freddy Garcia even made his first start of the season, the veteran right-hander was getting the bum's rush after allowing 17 runs on 23 hits in 82/3 innings during his final 2 starts in spring training.

Hudson, the White Sox' top pitching prospect, was the popular replacement but Garcia served notice Saturday he still knows how to pitch.

"A lot of people had doubts on Freddy, including myself, about the way he pitched in spring training," said Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "I think Freddy Garcia proved everybody wrong. Freddy showed one more time that when the lights are on, you'd better beat him. I feel proud of him."

Garcia's fastball barely hit 90 mph against the Twins, but his knack for changing speeds and keeping the ball hidden were on display again.

Handcuffing Minnesota all afternoon, Garcia's only mistake came when Jason Kubel hit a 2-run homer off a high fastball in the seventh inning.

"Too bad we lost, but put spring training in the past," Garcia said. "I had a lot of time to think about it and today I threw strikes and made pitches. I only made one mistake. I don't think he hit the ball that good, but that's part of the game."

Closing time? The White Sox have a current closer, Bobby Jenks. They also appear to have a future closer in Sergio Santos.

"He's still learning and he's going to make mistakes and get hit and they will score runs against him," Ozzie Guillen said of the rookie relief pitcher. "But he has confidence and believes in himself. When you do that and have cold blood, that's a closer mentality. He has all that."

Santos, a former infielder who didn't take up pitching until the start of last season, showed that mentality against the Twins on Friday night.

Entering the 3-3 game in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs, the right-hander got Delmon Young to strike out swinging on a nasty slider.

"You want to have the team have confidence in you, you know what I mean?" Santos said. "Obviously, I have confidence in myself, I believe in what I can do and I don't try to do too much. That first (game) was just to kind of get out there and get the nerves out. You feel that adrenaline running through your body and you just try to control it.

"With that second one (Friday), I was kind of coming into a situation where I knew I just needed to get ahead early. Luckily, I was able to go first pitch off-speed and get it over. Once I let that first pitch go, the nerves and all that kind of just left and I got back to normal I guess."

Santos never pitched back-to-back games in spring training, but he easily handled the workload on Thursday and Friday with 12/3 scoreless innings.

"So far so good," Santos said. "I'm a 100 percent kind of pitcher so with my fastball, I throw it 100 percent. With my sliders and changeup, I try to throw them 100 percent. And what I've just kind of learned is taking a little bit off and kind of trusting what the ball's going to do as opposed to trying to manipulate and trying to make my slider cut or slurve or whatever you want to call it, make my changeup drop or move.

"I just figured I'm going to let the grip kind of take over and hopefully it'll work out."

Quick hits: Mark Buehlre received his Gold Glove before the game ... Naperville's Gina Glocksen, who gained fame on American Idol in 2007, sang the National Anthem ... Jon Rauch, who pitched for the Sox in 2002 and '04, is replacing injured Twins closer Joe Nathan this season. Rauch got another save Saturday and is 4-for-4 on the season.