Sounds feel the Sting

Nashville Sounds' manager Trent Jewett wears a Dallas Cowboys t-shirt underneath his uniform.

With 141 fans of the 4,940 at Greer Stadium Tuesday night wearing Eddie George's No. 27 Tennessee Titans jersey, Jewett would have been more than happy to see one in the Cowboys blue and silver. He would have been even happier if the Sounds had been able to come up with more than one run in a 2-1 loss to the Salt Lake City Stingers.

"I'm sure there are going to be a bunch of Eddie George Cowboys jerseys," Jewett said.

And he is even more certain that John VanBenschoten, the Sounds top pitching prospect, is going to one day be on a Major League pitching staff one day, despite his 3-9 record and no wins in his last eight starts. He struck out six batters and walked one while giving up five hits.

"He went through stages where he was dominant," Jewett said. "I have every belief he is going to be outstanding. He is not one of those guys who are going to just get by on his stuff or his location. He fields his position. He handles the bat. He holds runners. He does all the things you expect top class pitchers to do."

VanBenschoten, who has not received very much run support from his teammates this season, struggled in the first couple of innings. He settled down after Sounds pitching coach Darold Knowles had a conference with him on the mound after walking Shane Halter to lead off the second inning. Halter would score on a fielder's choice by Jake Thrower to tie the game.

"I just tried to help him take his mind off of it and to give him some ideas," Knowles said. "He was getting all long and gangly instead of being compact. He struggled with his rhythm early on and wound up walking a guy who probably wound up costing him the game."

Knowles and Jewett both expected VanBenschoten to go through an adjustment period in Triple-A. They both believe his progress is about where it should be at this stage of the season.

"He made the adjustments he needed to make on his own," Knowles said. "That makes you think he is getting better because he is starting to understand himself and what he has to do. He has been the tough luck guy for us this year, but that is just baseball."

The series continues tonight at 7 with right-hander Nelson Figueroa (10-6, 4.27 earned run average) facing Salt Lake right-hander Chris Bootcheck (6-6, 5.13).