Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Mike Silva

Author Archive

NYBD is Now Mike Silva Media

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

The time has come to merge Sports Media Watchdog, New York Baseball Digest and Mike Silva Media. Please join me at my new site mikesilvamedia.com You can bookmark the new RSS feed here. CLICK HERE TO GO TO MIKESILVAMEDIA.COM

Is the Yanks-Orioles Rivalry Back?

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

After beating the Yankees last night, the Orioles are now 16-9 and a game behind Tampa in the AL East. The team that most pundits picked to finish a distant last has a better record than the Yanks on May 3rd. To date, they are hands down the biggest surprise of the 2012 baseball season. [...]

The Mets Say Goodbye to Houston

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

The Astros are moving to the American League at the end of the year so this afternoon is the last time the Mets play in Houston, unless they have a rare interleague series. Houston has never been kind to them throughout their history. As Gary Cohen mentioned during last night’s game, the Mets have a [...]

Yanks Could Be Game Changer for ESPN Radio

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

ESPN started a new era in New York radio when it moved to FM yesterday morning with their 98.7 debut. They also turned 1050 into a Spanish speaking equivalent and renamed it ESPN Deportes. There is also a new lineup on the station. I don’t know if it’s possible for Terry Collins or Joe Girardi to shakeup their lineup as [...]

Weekly Digest @ 10pm on 1240 AM WGBB

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

Tonight I will be live from the studio of 1240 AM WGBB. Former big leaguer Frank Catalanotto will kick off the show. Frank recently published a book called “Heart and Hustle: An Unlikely Journey from Little Leaguer to Big Leaguer.“ I will talk about the homegrown Mets and their surprising April start. MLB.com contributor Jed [...]

The Underrated Moose Skowron

Saturday, April 28th, 2012

Home run hitters tend to have nicknames. Babe Ruth was “The Bambino,” Dave Kingman was “Kong,” David Ortiz ”Big Papi” and Frank Thomas the “Big Hurt.” Bill “Moose” Skowron was a power hitting first baseman for the Yankees in the 1950s, but his nickname had nothing to do with anything he did on the field. “My grandfather shaved off all [...]

Ducks Open Season Honoring #8

Friday, April 27th, 2012

When you think of the late Hall-of-Fame catcher Gary Carter you immediately remember his days in Montreal or leading the Mets to the ’86 World Series championship. Perhaps his final years in Los Angeles and San Francisco come to mind, as well. What you don’t think of is Carter in a Long Island Ducks uniform, but he [...]

Does Ike Davis Need to Turn It Around This Road Trip to Avoid a Demotion?

Friday, April 27th, 2012

.132/.192/.265/ That is the batting line for Mets first baseman Ike Davis going into tonight’s game. It was Davis, along with Lucas Duda, Daniel Murphy and Ruben Tejada, the Mets were relying on to emerge as part of the young positional core that will be on the field for years to come. Out of that foursome, Davis had the best resume [...]

Can Derek Jeter Hit .400?

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Steroids created a lot of “video game” type of results over two decades. Two records that still were elusive to jacked up hitters was Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak and Ted Williams .406 batting average. When ESPN Baseball Tonight analyst  John Kruk said Derek Jeter can hit .400 earlier this month, everyone blew it off as crazy.  Thirty-four games [...]

Mets “Lousy” Farm System on Display in Victory

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

The Mets farm system hasn’t won any popularity contests over the years. In an age where prospect writing and analysis falls into the same lazy memes and groupthink we see in mainstream sports reporting, the Mets have ranked in the bottom third of most publications. They look even worse as the Yankees aggressive spending the [...]

Wright Facing Similar Crossroad as Strawberry

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

David Wright set a historic team record last night when he homered off Mark Buehrle to give the Mets a 2-1 lead, a game they ultimately would win 5-1. Those two RBI were the 734th and 735th of his career, setting the Mets record that was previously held by Darryl Strawberry. It’s amazing that he’s [...]

Pettitte Not Big League Ready, Still a Question Mark

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Yankees fans have been penciling in Andy Pettitte to takeover either Phil Hughes‘ or Freddy Garcia‘s rotation spot. On a day where the organization received bad news regarding Michael Pineda‘s shoulder, Pettitte made another rehab start with Double-A Trenton. According to Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat Pettitte’s velocity was between 86-87 mph. His average in 2010, his last full [...]

Is the Knuckleball an Endangered Species?

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

On Saturday, I attended a screening of Knuckleball! at the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. The documentary, by award-winning filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, follows knuckleballers R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield during the 2011 season. Stern and Sundberg also tell the story about how both pitchers came to embrace and master this unique pitch.  Charlie Hough, Phil Niekro, Jim Bouton  and long-time White Sox [...]

Don’t Expect Reyes’ Return to Be Very Memorable

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

Jose Reyes returns to New York tonight as a member of the Miami Marlins. It will be weird to see the former Mets shortstop decked out in the silly art deco Miami uniform. This is not the first time in team history a star is returning to his former place of employment. The Mets have done [...]

Sox Bullpen Not the Only Boston Meltdown on Saturday

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

The Red Sox bullpen had an ugly Saturday afternoon by giving up 13 earned runs in 3 innings. That is a meltdown of epic proportions, but it appears the 8th inning sing-along at Fenway perturbed Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. If they play Sweet Caroline between innings, somebody should get fired. I’m sorta serious. [...]