phillyburbs on phil hughes' latest start:

It almost doesn't seem fair to keep throwing Trenton Thunder starting pitcher Phil Hughes against Double A hitters.

Hughes, the New York Yankees' top prospect and one of the top young pitchers in baseball, clearly mastered this level weeks ago.

In the Thunder's 2-1 10-inning loss to the visiting Portland Sea Dogs in front of 7,920 fans at Mercer County Waterfront Park on Friday night, Hughes gave up two hits and one run in five routinely dominant innings.


...Hughes gave up a one-out line-drive double to Port-land's Jeremy West in the top of the fourth, and a soft RBI single up the middle to the next hitter, Luis Jim-enez. He has limited opponents to two hits in five straight starts and has only allowed three runs during that span.

For the season, Hughes is 8-3 with a 2.46 ERA. In 106 innings for the Thunder, he has given up 71 hits and struck out 124. Over 24 innings in his last five starts, Hughes has a 1.13 ERA with 34 strikeouts and 10 hits allowed.

On Friday night, he also fielded his position flawlessly, making three plays on balls near the mound.

“That's one of the things about Phil Hughes that people don't understand,” Masse said. “He fields his position very well. You don't always see it because he strikes out half the guys he faces.”

sort of unnerving to look at his line and sniff at his paltry 3 strikeouts though, isn't it? note to self: easy, girl.

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