WPPA / T-102 SPORTS / Thursday

READING PHILLIES:

Reading, Pa. -- If Philadelphia Phillies GM Pat Gillick had his way, Trenton Thunder right-hander Phillip Hughes would be hanging his hat in the Phillies clubhouse at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Instead, the hard-throwing former No. 1 draft pick and third-year pro was firing the kind of searing heat at the Phillies that nearly matched Wednesday night's gametime temperature of 100 degrees.
When the Yankees and Phillies sat down to exchange trade talk prior to Monday's trade deadline, Hughes was the guy Gillick -- and a gang of others -- coveted. Yankees GM Brian Cashman, though, has put a Not-for-Sale sign on the 20-year-old Georgian, considered the golden boy of the system.
Phillip Hughes, the Yankee's untouchable #1 prospect, allowed two hits, two walks and struck out eight in five innings on Wednesday. He did not get a decision.

So Gillick had to settle for four pieces of silver -- shortstop C.J. Henry, left-hander Matt Smith and a couple of kids -- in exchange for Bobby Abreu and Corey Lidle.
Pumping 95 and 96 mph fastballs on the black, Hughes, whom Cashman has put on a strict pitch count, fired a two-hitter over five shutout innings, with two walks and eight strikeouts.
Not to be outdone, Phillies lefty Gio Gonzalez, the No. 2 prospect in the organization who struggled with his control during the month of July, was equal to the task while breaking a personal three-game losing streak.
The 20-year-old lefty threw a four-hitter over six shutout innings, with three walks and eight strikeouts. He was particularly impressive in the fifth inning, when the Thunder's first two batters singled. Then, with the bases loaded and two out, Gonzalez froze the dangerous Randy Ruiz with a breaking ball to end the inning.
With Hughes presumably cooling in the shower, the Phillies (54-54) took advantage in the sixth inning on the way to a 5-1 victory, their fourth straight. The R-Phils were season-low 28-43 as recently as June 22.
Gary Burnham was hit by a Jeff Kennard pitch to start the inning. Pedro Swann doubled to the gap in right-center, Burnham stopping at third. Joey Hammond bounced out to short, scoring Burnham, the runner moving up a base. With two out and Jesus Merchan in the box, Kennard uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Swann. After Merchan walked, Brandon Gemoll launched a bomb to right for his second homer of the season.
"I've been feeling good and swinging good lately, and that's probably the best swing I've had all year," Gemoll said.

In the eighth, Hammond uncorked his team-leading eighth homer, a solo shot to left to close the scoring.
The loss went to Kennard (3-4). The Thunder (58-51) scored their only run off Dan Giese, who pitched three strong innings in relief of Gonzalez. They scored in the sixth on a sac fly by Vince Faison.

The Reading Phillies play Trenton again tonight at 7:05pm...Gates open at 6:00pm.


Wednesday's major league scores

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Texas Rangers 10 Minnesota Twins 2
Seattle Mariners 2 Baltimore Orioles 1
Oakland Athletics 3 L.A. Angels 2
Boston Red Sox 6 Cleveland Indians 5
N.Y. Yankees 7 Toronto Blue Jays 2
Detroit Tigers 8 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 3
Kansas City Royals 7 Chicago White Sox 3

NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Francisco Giants 8 Washington Nationals 6
N.Y. Mets 6 Florida Marlins 5
Atlanta Braves 3 Pittsburgh Pirates 2
L.A. Dodgers 5 Cincinnati Reds 3
Philadelphia Phillies 16 St. Louis Cardinals 8
Colorado Rockies 8 Milwaukee Brewers 2
Houston Astros 7 San Diego Padres 1
Arizona Diamondbacks at Chicago Cubs, ppd., rain

Today's pitching probables and 2006 records (all times EDT)

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Toronto Blue Jays (Shawn Marcum 1-0) at New York Yankees (Cory Lidle 0-0), 1:05 p.m.
Cleveland Indians (Jake Westbrook 7-7) at Boston Red Sox (Josh Beckett 13-5), 7:05 p.m.
Detroit Tigers (Nate Robertson 9-6) at Tampa Bay Devil Rays (Jae Weong Seo 1-5), 7:15 p.m.
Minnesota Twins (Brad Radke 9-8) at Kansas City Royals (Jorge De La Rosa 3-2), 8:10 p.m.
Texas Rangers (Kevin Millwood 10-7) at Los Angeles Angels (Jered Weaver 7-0), 10:05 p.m.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta Braves (Tim Hudson 8-9) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Shawn Chacon 0-0), 12:35 p.m.
Arizona Diamondbacks (Juan Cruz 3-6 and Enrique Gonzalez 3-2) at Chicago Cubs (Carlos Marmol 4-4 Juan Mateo 0-0), 2:20 p.m.
Houston Astros (Matt Albers 0-0) at San Diego Padres (Clay Hensley 6-8), 3:35 p.m.
New York Mets (Pedro Martinez 8-4) at Florida Marlins (Dontrelle Willis 6-8), 7:05 p.m.
Los Angeles Dodgers (Greg Maddux 9-11) at Cincinnati Reds (Eric Milton 7-6), 7:10 p.m.
Philadelphia Phillies (Cole Hamels 3-5) at St. Louis Cardinals (Jason Marquis 12-8), 8:10 p.m.

W-N-B-A
Wednesday's Scores No games scheduled

Today
Minnesota at Indiana, 7 p.m.
Los Angeles at Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Detroit at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Sacramento at San Antonio, 8 p.m.
Washington at Seattle, 10 p.m.
Charlotte at Phoenix, 10 p.m.