Bill - I dont read her stuff anymore as its usually prepared for the masses - and usually doesnt reflect the underlying stuff that sher really knows
I saw the patent - and I believe that they have a part of the algorithm that does age-justify domains that are expired, had a previous listing on DMOZ and might have previous backlinks. As a matter of fact I believe they have stated that they do place a zeroing effect on those type of domains the best they can - and will do a better job of it once they have their full registrar system running (they were approved as a registrar recently)
As far as a sandbox - no I dont believe there is one - and can actually prove that there isnt as if there was it would have to follow certain mathematical rules - and it would apply to all freshly registered domains - and with domains that have never been registered ever - I can still get them into the top listings with no problem.
Of course with the domains that have been owned before its tougher - but that has more to do with the expired domain penalty - not a sandbox.
Most people that call what they are experiencing a "sandbox" just havent been around long enough or had enough experiences to see other causes - I usually say they havent gotten to the swingset yet