Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Doc Gooden

R.A. Dickey’s Streak Ends, Looking Back at Doc’s

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

The Braves ended R.A. Dickey’s streak of 14-consecutive quality starts that fell just short of Dwight Gooden’s team record set in 1985. Ironically, it was the Braves that ended Doc’s on July 4th of that season. That was the infamous 19 inning game that ended at 4:00 AM. Dickey’s streak has been over two seasons, […]

Mark Fidrych, the Greatest Non-Roster Invitee

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

The minor-league deal. The non-roster invite to spring training. It’s like one of those phrases you hear in passing and ignore. There are two types of non-roster invitees, as former Dodgers GM Fred Claire pointed out to me the other day. “There’s the promising young player that you would like to take a long look […]

Didn’t I Hear This Story 25 Years Ago?

Friday, October 21st, 2011

Craig Carton has spent the past few months mocking Mike Francesa for his oft repeated crush on Tigers’ third baseman Brandon Inge. Well at least Francesa, a diehard Yankees fan, knows who mans the hot corner in Detroit. If you were taking the SATs, and the question came up…True or False? “The Yankees are to the […]

Doc’s Plan to Fix the Mets, A-Rod and Canseco, Rollins and Mets

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Hey, the fans have their say, why not former Mets? Doc Gooden chimed in on what the Mets should do via Twitter last night. He said that “if he were GM” he would sign Jose Reyes, trade Jason Bay for A.J. Burnett or another pitcher, and send 4 prospects to Seattle for Felix Hernandez. He […]

Best All-Time Hitting Pitchers, Does Jim Thome Validate the DH, Putting Izzy’s 300th Save In Perspective, Solid Base Running, Beato as a Starter, Move Tampa to Montreal

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

Mark Simon of ESPN NY tells us how last night’s Mets starter R.A. Dickey is “21-for-91 since joining the Mets in 2010, good for a .231 batting average. He also has 14 sacrifices.” This article got me wondering who the best all-time hitting pitchers are. We all know the best hitting pitcher of all-time was Babe Ruth. To […]

Pedro Martinez: Most Dominant Pitcher Ever?

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

Earlier in the week I called Pedro Martinez the “Sandy Koufax of our generation.” This was done just by the eye test. I remember how feared and dominant Martinez was as a member of the Red Sox. Even as he declined during his days as a Met, Martinez still put together one of the better pitching performances in […]

Six Degrees of Separation From the Last Mets Balk-Off

Friday, June 17th, 2011

When D.J. Carrasco balked in the winning run last night, it was the first time for the team since Roger McDowell did it on May 28th, 1989 in Los Angeles. There are many individuals in that game (see boxscore) that are/have been involved with the organization. Willie Randolph played second for the Dodgers. Current Bisons […]

What Could Lenny Dykstra Have Been?

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Lenny Dykstra once promised to be the best leadoff hitter in baseball. Now, 25 years since he hit two memorable postseason homeruns for the Mets, he is a punch line as everyone is talking about his attempt to “rescue” Doc Gooden from the “Celebrity Rehab” reality show. I have chronicled Dykstra’s misfortunes since his days […]

How Dale Murphy and Doc Gooden Created John Sterling

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

On the heels of my post about the 7 types of John Sterling calls, I came across this AP video from 2009 where John Sterling talks about his unique style of announcing. His now customary “it is high, it is far, it is gone” started during his Atlanta days when Dale Murphy hit a homerun […]

Mike Francesa: A Modern Day Dick Young

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Back in the 1950s through the 1970s, here in New York City, there used to be a curmudgeonly sports columnist named Dick Young He was a right-wing conservative in every way and a brilliant baseball writer. He was the best-read and best-known writer in this huge market but as he got older, he became angrier […]