Baseball

This is not some knee-jerk reaction to what happened in yesterday's 15-3 blowout loss to the Sox. Sure, the right-hander gave up seven hits and six runs in two innings of work, including a pair of home runs. 

But Carlos Silva has got to go.

Now this should not be a surprise to anyone who knows anything about baseball. The fact that Silva is a lousy pitcher is one of the biggest "Duh!'s" in history. It is an understatement similar to saying that Tiger Woods likes the ladies.

The battle for the fifth starting spot on the Yankees is up for grabs this spring. While in all reality there are about five players in contention, many believe it will come down to either Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes, with the "loser" moving to the bullpen.

Unlike football or basketball, baseball’s annual player draft is not designed to change the team that year.

They hold the draft in the middle of the season (June) instead of during the off-season because the teams do not expect any player they draft to have an immediate impact. In fact teams usually have to wait years before they see what type of players their draft picks turn out to be.

Dave Paderson is a die-hard New York Mets' fan. In 1966, Dave was attending New York University's graduate school.

One December night that year, on his way back to his home in Flushing, Dave received a wonderful present from New York's other team.

Charlie Morton's 2009 ERA of 4.55 shouts "league average."  But that's exactly what he is not, because he got there in a funny way.

My father (a retired civil engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University) used to say that there were two types of "B" students.  One type made "straight Bs." The other (rarer) kind made half As and half Cs.

Every year it seems the Texas Rangers compete for a playoff spot, but at the end they just run out of juice.

Year after year sportswriters everywhere predict big things from the Texas Rangers, but this season you haven't really heard too much of that.

The reason is because they have delivered so much disappointment to those that have picked them in previous seasons.  Despite that, I'm still going to go out on a big limb here and say that the Texas Rangers will go deep into the playoffs this season.

The most important trait Brewers' GM Doug Melvin was looking for this winter in trying to rebuild his pitching staff was durability.

The Brewers were devastated last season due to injury and ineffectiveness by their starters, and Melvin needed to find pitchers he could count on to make every start, while still giving the team a shot to win.

The spring games continue, as do the intriguing position battles. 

Could Wade Davis’ grasp on the fifth starter spot fade?  Could Ike Davis force his way into the Mets’ 1B mix? 

Let’s look at these stories and all the rest:

Picture this. You wake up in the morning and stroll peacefully outside. It's mid morning and the sun has already begun to heat the earth. It's not too hot, but certainly not cold. You hop in the car and begin cruising down the highway with the windows down, wearing a baseball cap and matching team jersey.

Since signing with the White Sox out of Cuba, Alexei Ramirez has been a player on the radar of fantasy owners.  His rookie campaign started off slowly, but by year’s end he was thought of as a potential stud.  How could a 20/20 threat out of a middle infield position not be?  Unfortunately, he took a small step back across the board in 2009, posting the following line: