Over the last six weeks, Mets fans have gotten a good look at Lastings Milledge and Mike Pelfrey, who are clearly the organization’s top two prospects and have performed admirably at the big league level. The organization's next best four prospects are still in Class A, but their performances over the last two days certainly have been impressive, and show signs that there is life beyond Milledge and Pelfrey. Lefthander Jon Niese led that group, throwing a complete game shutout Wednesday for low Class A Hagerstown as the Suns thrashed Lexington 9-0. “He was outstanding last night,” Suns pitching coach Shawn Barton said. “ The use of his changeup was a big key for me. It is a pitch that has been lacking in terms of using it. Our goal was to mix it in and he established all three pitches early with command. “He doesn’t use the change enough. We were forcing him to throw it last night and it was a great lesson as far as the value of that pitch." The lefthander needed only 102 pitches to get through nine innings as he struck out nine and walked two while allowing three hits. Barton noted that it was the first time all season Niese had all three of his pitches working in sync. “He recorded seven outs on his change and seven strikeouts on his curve,” Barton said. “The curveball had very good break, seven strikeouts on the curve and four of them were looking. When you get four guys looking on the curve like that, you know it is pretty sharp.” As it has all year, Niese’s fastball was averaging 89 mph and touching 91. The performance improved his record to 9-6, 3.51 with 106 strikeouts and 50 walks in 97 innings. Niese got all the support he would need from outfielder Fernando Martinez, who was playing his first game for the Suns since June 10 because of a sprained knee. The 17-year-old went 3-for-4 with his third home run and three RBIs. Just under 800 miles away, Philip Humber was showing no ill effects as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. The third overall pick in the 2004 draft out of Rice threw five shutout innings for high Class A St. Lucie while allowing four hits and walking none. Scouts have been giving strong reports on Humber, who has had his fastball sitting 90-94 mph while showing his trademark hammer curve and the occasional power change. In 26 innings in the Florida State League, the righthander is now 2-1, 3.12 with a 25-5 strikeout-walk ratio. Their outstanding nights came a day after righthander Deolis Guerra, another 17-year-old, had his best outing of the year for the Suns and lowered his ERA to 2.82 in 54 innings. Guerra took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and allowed two earned runs over seven innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. Like Niese, it was the first time he had all three of this pitches working together. “He had his curve going well, and he'd not had the curve going for him all season,” Barton said. “He threw 14 of 19 for strikes. It is a pitch he has been lacking confidence in, but he established it early and was able to throw it behind in the count. “His change is his best pitch because he gets so many swings and misses on it with deception and great arm speed.” Due to the changeup, Guerra is more effective against lefthanded hitters (.216 average) than righthanded hitters (.241). --MATT MEYERS --

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