2
2011
Murphy’s Gaffe Leads To Mets 7-3 Loss
An article by Former Writers
Game Summary
A Mike Pelfrey-esque start, a bullpen hold, a bad pitch by Izzy, poor offense against a 4+ ERA starter, and plenty of mental mistakes. A game Duda tied late, was lost in extras. Another one of those games. Mets lose 7-3.
Game Notes
Mike Pelfrey. What else can we say about him that hasn’t already been said about him? He’s not that good. Sure, he’s kept his team in it with only three runs – two earned – allowed, but watching him, you can see he just doesn’t have what he used to with his sinker. Six innings, two earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts, 119 pitches, 4.48 ERA. Our “ace” is not cutting it. But walks away with a ND.
Iggy pitched a one hit, one K inning in relief. Acosta and his…different hair style, pitched two one-two-three innings with four Ks. New hair-do is working for him.
In the first nine innings, Mets offense just didn’t want to get on the same page. A hit here, and out there, a double there, a flyout here. Luckily, Jason Bay hit a homerun where so few can hit a homerun in CitiField to give the Mets the first run for them. Seven on the season, three at home.
After a double by Pagan in the bottom of the ninth, Lucas Duda smashed a two-run homerun to center to tie up the game at three and send the game into extras. The Dude abides! Hairston feels deja-vu.
After Thole strikes out, the game goes into extras and Izzy entered to pitch. After an awkward first pitch that looked like he injured himself, he got himself into a base-loaded, one out jam.
No help from the brainless Daniel Murphy who didn’t throw the ball to Turner on first base with a runner stranded in a run down and got back safely. This of course coming from the guy who didn’t move the bat from home plate while Reyes was trying to score in the same game. Mets are now raising money to purchase a brain for Daniel Murphy. This is a serious issue for the Mets. Please donate. Call, 1-800-DUMB-ASS. Oh, and Mike Stanton shows off his power with a grandslam off Izzy to make it 7-3, Marlins. Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong, Daniel Murphy will probably do it.
Continuing on, Mets lose.
Game Ball
The Dude!
Up Next
Capuano and Brad Hand. Lefty matchup. Game time 7:10 PM.
About the Author: Former Writers
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I have had enough of this Murphy guy already! I don’t care if he leads the NL in hitting the Mets have to use this good offensive year by him and move him to the AL or ANYBODY in the offseason. I don’t care what they get back as long as it’s of value and they have BRAINS can think like a baseball player for God’s sake
bayonne, you so crazy! you never fal to have some awful opinion. you are awesome.
Martin, do u really believe Murph has the capacity to learn beyond hitting a baseball? I’d only buy into this notion of his OJT staus if he hadn;’t so recently been shown exactly what to do in that exact instance. There must be a minimum of 5G his inabilities have cost us exceeding those he gave us through his limited abilities.
Considering the Gnats gave him his own private tutoral on executing “the dumbass stranded trsil runner” play when they “hoisted him by his own petard” so recently, I guess he preferred variety in lieu of copying the perfect execution.
What Murphy has taught me so far is this: MURPHY = A VERY GOOD HITTER & VERY MEDIOCRE BASEBALLPLAYER!
i dont necessarily agree that he is a very good hitter. he is kinda inconsistent. i think he only has enough bat to play second base. and he certainly could use improvement there. if he could improve a bit at second, he would be a solid player. he doesnt have the bat to play at first, and he is a wildly incompetent outfielder.
You didn’t mention the mistake that Angel Pagan made in the ninth inning, trying to take an extra base down two runs in the ninth inning?
You didn’t mention the mistakes of Mike Pelfrey by not throwing sinkers when he needed a double play.
You didn’t mention the bad throwing error by David Wright on an easy double play grounder in the fourth inning which ultimately led to a run.
You didn’t mention the terrible call by Chip Hale to send Jose Reyes home on a single to right field in the fifth inning. Reyes was an easy dead duck.
Why not?
Daniel Murphy is NOT a major League starting player. We all know that.
Daniel Murphy is a utility player thrust into the role of an every day player.
The problem is, Murphy can hit. I am hopeful that Ike Davis finally has the surgery is out the year and Murphy keeps hitting. Then in the of season the Mets dangle Murphy with another player to get an AL quality pitcher.
Lifelong, you’re the guy who also had bad things to say about Carlos Beltran. You called him selfish and not a team player. Why don’t you put the team you like to paper and we’ll see what you’ve got to offer.
Des, Do you disagree with what I wrote?
You think Daniel Murphy is a major league NL every day player?
You thin Daniel Murphy should play 1st base instal of Ike Davis in 2012?
You don’t think the Mets should trade Murphy to an AL team in the off season?
What do you disagree with about what I have written on 1 August 2011 at 10:45pm?
You apparently don’t read all the entries that we submit. Here was mine:
Without Murph’s bat, the Mets are probably below .500. He’s put together a .317/.360/.452 line with six homers and 28 doubles, good for third in the National League in batting and third in two-baggers. His wRC+ sits at 125 (anything over 100 is better than average) and he hasn’t’ been a liability against lefties, batting .294/.307/.435 against them. Yet even with his success, there are some concerns about the sustainability of these numbers. For one, he doesn’t walk a lot, posting a walk rate of just 5.7%, lower than the league average of 8.2%. Second, his BABIP is .344, a number well above the league average of .293 and one that is usually unsustainable. So Murphy’s offense has been centered around him putting the ball in play and collecting hits, to which some degree of luck is owed. He’s done a great job making contact, doing so 89.7% of the time (the average is 80.9%), especially on pitches out of the strike zone, where Murph has made contact 83.9% of the time (the average is 68.1%). In fact, Murphy has only swung and missed 4.6% of the time, well below the average of 8.5%. In short, Murphy has become a contact and gap hitter who flashes occasional power and puts the ball in play often, but doesn’t draw a lot of walks. Whether he can sustain that skill in the long term (over a few seasons) can’t fully be determined yet because Murphy has only played one other full season in the bigs.
http://risingapple.com/2011/08/01/the-value-of-daniel-murphy/
I think you made a great case that the Mets should have traded him to the AL obviously as a DH or off the bench player. Many AL teams would be receptive to a Daniel Murphy and we could have gotten somwthing good in return. The announcers of last night’s game questioned his decision making progress on the field and doubted it could be fixed with the right instruction. I think if Ike Davis didn’r go down Daniel Murphy would be an American League player today. They also were distracted bt the Beltran trade details.
Hitting isn’t an issue for Murph, obviously. The reason he simply has to go, is that he is a terrible defensive player, a real liability, and perhaps the worst base runner to ever lace up spikes.
lIFER, U R BEING TOO KIND, “UTILITY” SIGNIFIES SOME ALL-AROUND USEFULNESS. MURPHY IS NOT UTILITARIAN BUT A LIMITED USE(HITTING ONLY) TOOL, LIKE A SLEDGEHAMMER
Murphy and Angel Pagen for any AL quality pitcher this off season?
LIFER, DEFINE QUALITY U ANTICIPATE RECEIVNG FOR A NON POWER HITTING DH & A #4 OUTFIELDER WITH LIMITED POWER & INCONSISTANT SWING?
LIFER, I GUESS U FEASTED ON THIRD GRADERS IN MIDDLESCHOOL WITH YOUR 3 DAVID ECTSTRINDS FOR 1 KEN GREGGEY CARD DEALS.
BTW, I’VE INEPT FINGERS THAT LAST LINE SHOULD HAVE READ,… LIFER, I GUESS U FEASTED ON THIRD GRADERS IN MIDDLESCHOOL WITH YOUR 3 DAVID ECKSTEINS FOR 1 KEN GRIFFEY CARD DEALS…LOL
Pagan taking an un-necessary risk in 9th, what is he thinking?
Doesn’t back up Bay in 1st, what is going on with him despite the fact that his OBP is just over .300 and he looks lost at the plate, guess he is not a lock for CF in 2012?
Murphy has been over exposed whether it was 3b, 2b, or 1b but eventually his lack of baseball instincts catches up with him and Mets and it cost us a game.
Izzy has lived on the edge at times and this time he got burnt, he has this happen before and worked his way out of it but not this time cause maybe walking Stanton if not for Murphy play does not guarantee that he gets Peterson out.
What a hard loss after big hit by Duda.
Anyone want to tell Mets that they are playing at home and they are supposed to win especially after a good pitched game by Pelfrey and BP?
I give myself big “THUMBS-UP!” for that post.
We are a .500 team. Frustrating losses like tomight happen with .500 teams.
Lets face it:
1b Daniel Murphy despite his hitting would not be starting for most NL except perhaps the Mets or Astros.
2b Justin Turner, a nice rookie year but Dustin Pedrio or even Neil Walker he is not.
Catcher Josh “passed-ball” Thole, hits like Jason Kendall fields like Mike Piazza not a good mix.
Centerfield: Angel Pagen It’s becoming clearer and clearer every game why the Mets traded Pagen to the Cubs and then the Cubs dumped him. Pagen is a good 4th outfielder not a starting player.
We’ll see if the Mets address these problems in the off season or simply play out the sting with these guys until the young’ins develop and Davis is back.
The knock on Piazza’s defense was his ability to throw runners out. He did a good job handling pitchers and covering the plate. Not great, but good.
Donal, it never ceased to amaze me how no one really picked up on Piazza’s 2 left feet, any activity involving footwork troubled him, ever notice his hitting style was similar to a man with cement shoes in the box, 100% upperbody. Some were even amazed as to his failure @ 1B where “footwork” is essential. This lack of foot coordination makes Mike’s accomplishments @ MLB level that much more Hall-worthy IMO!
Without Murph’s bat, the Mets are probably below .500. He’s put together a .317/.360/.452 line with six homers and 28 doubles, good for third in the National League in batting and third in two-baggers. His wRC+ sits at 125 (anything over 100 is better than average) and he hasn’t’ been a liability against lefties, batting .294/.307/.435 against them. Yet even with his success, there are some concerns about the sustainability of these numbers. For one, he doesn’t walk a lot, posting a walk rate of just 5.7%, lower than the league average of 8.2%. Second, his BABIP is .344, a number well above the league average of .293 and one that is usually unsustainable. So Murphy’s offense has been centered around him putting the ball in play and collecting hits, to which some degree of luck is owed. He’s done a great job making contact, doing so 89.7% of the time (the average is 80.9%), especially on pitches out of the strike zone, where Murph has made contact 83.9% of the time (the average is 68.1%). In fact, Murphy has only swung and missed 4.6% of the time, well below the average of 8.5%. In short, Murphy has become a contact and gap hitter who flashes occasional power and puts the ball in play often, but doesn’t draw a lot of walks. Whether he can sustain that skill in the long term (over a few seasons) can’t fully be determined yet because Murphy has only played one other full season in the bigs.
http://risingapple.com/2011/08/01/the-value-of-daniel-murphy/
Blame it on Murphy, but Izzy wasnt that good and let two on base. If he didnt do that then the Murphy issue would not come. up. Murphy had 2 hits, where was the offense to move him over. A lot of blame for this game for other hitters (Wright and Pagan)
Wright has been hotter then hell since coming off the DL – one game and you want to put the blame on him already, so much for “team” effort.
Because of the constant moving around the infield, the sample sizes at each position are a little on the small side, but Murphy has actually performed admirably at each spot. At first base, his best position, Murph sports an Ultimate Zone Ratingn (UZR) of 1.3 with three runs saved, while at third base his UZR is 0.6 with one run saved. The sample size is the smallest at second base, which probably explains the 1.9 UZR; the minus three runs at second base is probably a better representation of how he’s played at that position, but Murph has flashed the leather there a couple of times. It’s fair to say that in general, Murphy’s defense has been better than expected, although sometimes it can be an adventure in the field.
http://risingapple.com/2011/08/01/the-value-of-daniel-murphy/
You’re just explaning why UZR is a bad stat – UZR takes a LONG time to be accurate – about three years(even after three years I still wouldn’t trust it anyway), so how can we judge Murphy’s defense by using UZR, when he has yet to play a full three years at one postion at the major league level?
So the reason why UZR is shows Murph is a good defender is because UZR isn’t accurate.
Vinnie, UZR is worthess compared to EOF(Eyes on Field) when rating Murph.
The question isn’t if Murphy can hit. The question is can Murphy hit enough to compensate for his poor play on the field? I am looking to next year..
In 2012 are you going to play Murphy over Ike Davis at 1st base? No. Of course not.
In 2012 are you going to play Daniel Murphy over David Wright at 3rd base? No.
In 2012 are you going to play Daniel Murphy in the OF? Tried that, didn’t work.
In 2012 are you going to play Daniel Murphy at 2nd base? Tried that, didn’t work.
In 2012 why would the Mets keep Murphy as a .300 hitting poor fielding utility player?
Why wouldn’t the Mets trade a young .300 hitter to an American league team for some value back?
Muprhy’s future in the major leagues is in the American league. Play Murphy the rest of this year, hope to God he continues to hit and then trade him in the off season to an AL team when he is at his peak value.
You obviously disagree with the defensive numbers Murphy has put up.
“Murph sports an Ultimate Zone Ratingn (UZR) of 1.3 with three runs saved, while at third base his UZR is 0.6 with one run saved. The sample size is the smallest at second base, which probably explains the 1.9 UZR; the minus three runs at second base is probably a better representation of how he’s played at that position, but Murph has flashed the leather there a couple of times.”
Chill out Lifelong, you’re missing the boat. LOL.
Your kidding right?
What other Major League team would play Murphy every day at 1st except for the Mets or Astros?
You have trouble with the facts. Enough said. Read the UZR data.
Your fancy numbers lie. All you have to do is WATCH Murphy and you see how terrible he is on defense. What about last night? He failed to throw the ball to Turner for a possible rundown.
Is there a stat for that?
in fact your using your make-believe numbers to look the other way and not see what the truth is on the field. The TRUTH is Murphy will cost this team MORE games with his defense/bad baserunning/mental lapses than with his bat. That’s being honest with yourself and that’s the truth.
There is a name for it. And its called Bayonne’s Bias. It’s alive and virulent.
Make-believe numbers? You’re joshing. Look all of them up under MiLB, MLB and the links I provided. No Bayonne, you’re the only one who cites Alice in Wonderland.
I don’t have to look at ANYTHING on MiLB,
I can tell, like most people here not just me, but i can tell just by watching the game.
Your judgement on most any topic here is absolutely horrendous.
Also is this “MiLB’ going to list all Murphy (or any ballplayers) mental mistakes? The costliness of those mental mistakes? And what about the ridiculous baserunning gaffs? Are there any stats for those?
Unbelievable we even have to argue these points.
You don’t watch every game. And the ones you do, you don’t see everything. Even season ticket holders at field level don’t see everything and don’t know what to look for anyway.
Actual professional scouts and other talent evaluators who have seen Murphy play 2B in winter ball and Spring Training didn’t hate him there at all. No Gold Glover by any stretch, but he seems to do OK.
The fact is, you already decided Murphy was a terrible 2B and nothing will change your mind otherwise. And the weirdest part is it has nothing to do with Murphy himself, but the current GM.
you’re finally right about something. I already decided Murphy was a terrible 2B back in spring training. That is CORRECT and it turned out i was right. He is WORSE than i thought overall as a defender and it’s a LOT more than the fielding plays, his brain is beyond description.
How the heck did this guy make it so far with such little baseball intellect. It’s unbelievable really!
Hey Danny if you’re reading this contact the site admin and shoot me an email. We’ll have a long talk about baseball strategy, proper baserunning technique, anticipating what to do with the ball BEFORE you get it. All those things you’re supposed to learn in High School.
“In 2012 are you going to play Daniel Murphy at 2nd base? Tried that, didn’t work.”
Not really. They didn’t try it that much and he didn’t look horrible in the little time he spent there.
“Why wouldn’t the Mets trade a young .300 hitter to an American league team for some value back?”
Because he’s young, cost controlled and good? Because they don’t have much else in the way of major league ready hitters?
Murphy has been valuable to the Mets this year for two reasons: his bat and his versatility. With all the injuries to Wright and Davis, Jason Bay continuing to look like he will never break out of his slump, and now the departure of Carlos Beltran, Murphy has stepped up in a big way. His offense, combined with his ability/willingness to play wherever Terry Collins put him has made him an asset to the Amazins this season.
http://risingapple.com/2011/08/01/the-value-of-daniel-murphy/
I love the attacks on Daniel Murphy, I really do. Here is a guy who plays hard but literally has NO position to play. He does what he has to do, never complains about it. His bat has certainly helped the team MORE this year than his fielding has hurt. Sure, that brain cramp sucked…but was it him to served up a meatball to Giancarlo-Cruz Michael Stanton for a grand slam? I thought Izzy was supposed to be the professional.
COOP, SANS MURPHY’S LAW INVOLVEMENT IZZY GIVES STANTON 4-WIDE ONES, NO MEATBALLS WITH HIS SPAGETTI…LOL
I got a spicy meat-a-ball! The reality is – we have no idea how Izzy would have reacted at that point. Signs were pointing that he didn’t have his stuff, giving up two base hits, no outs, etc. He could have easily given up a base hit for all we know.
Coop, did u see those basehits? or just hear them over the fan? 99 hoppers through the infield seams. I hardly call that “no stuff”. that’s defined in any Wbsters as “pisspoor luck”; nut no excuses. Izzy hasn’t been a contactless closer for years; but I’d bet your house, Peterson doesn’t have the stones to take Izzy downtown under that pressure; however, Byrdak was on-call in pen already loose & likely he slides in to slider Peterson into submission. PHer? u say? Perhaps; but how many CFers does Jack have up those sleeves.
No, there’s no way to fortell the ultimate outcome sams Murphy’s typical blunder; but it hardely could be worse.
I saw them, I was at the game actually. What’s your point? Izzy’s job is to get outs. You’re right, though, it’s hard to tell what the course would have looked like had the blunder not happened. But wanna talk about luck, Angel Pagan’s baserunning in the 9th could have gone either way – he could have been thrown out and Duda’s HR would have either been meaningless or not happened at all.
’62 you know I <3 ya, but let's get real — all this is doing is crying over spilled Murphies and Tuesday Morning 1Bing.
Coop, ain’t it funny how people shit on Murphy for his constant brain cramps but Angel Pagan somehow gets defended & praised, even though he’s a much worse case of having brain cramps? Last night, I was in attendance for the game and I saw Pagan get a base hit in the 9th inning. I see Pagan go to first, stop, then all of a sudden bolt to 2nd base. I yelled out “The **** are you doing, Pagan?!?!” as he was nearly tagged out at 2nd.
Hitman, I noticed that too. Did you know in the three game losing streak that Pagan is hitting .086. But no, it’s all on Murphy, in the 10th inning that they were lucky to be playing in.
Incidentally, my friend Jake has a phrase “Dumb as a box of Pagans.” I was saying that last night on that play.
LMAO dumb as a box of Pagans. I gotta remember that one.
So, we trade Murphy and then what? How do we replace his production?
PRODUCTION? SABOTEURS ARE NEVER RATED ON PRODUCTION, JUST LACK THEREOF!
PRODUCTION!!??? WHAT PRODUCTION!!?????
I was in attendance for last night’s game.
I arrived to the game at the start of the 3rd inning so IDK what happened the first couple of innings, but I noticed we were already down 1-0. I thought Pelf was so-so through 6 innings. I wish the offense would’ve picked up the slack for him. In the 4th inning, after Pagan got the 1st out, I decided to have a bathroom break when Bay was up (I was at Shea Bridge from the time I was there to the end. Great view!) because I didn’t think Bay was gonna do much. What happens? Bay hits a HR. LOL.
In one inning, Reyes gets on with a double against Vazquez. Next batter is Turner, who gets a base hit to shallow right field. What the hell was Chip Hale thinking sending Jose Reyes home against Mike Stanton and the gun of an arm he has? Reyes was a dead duck.
Fast forward to the 9th inning, Mets down 3-1, Angel Pagan comes up and gets a hit. He stops at first, then speeds up to 2nd and BARELY makes it in! I said out loud “What the **** are you doing, Pagan?” Mind you, Mets are down 2 runs in the 9th inning and we need as much men on as we can. Next batter: Lucas Duda. I always liked this kid, and I hate the fact that it seems like there’s no position for him, although I’ll give him a chance in RF. Anyway, Duda comes up and SMACKS a ball deep to right center to the deepest part of Citi Field. Originally, I thought the ball would just go over the Center Fielder’s head for an extra base hit, but the ball kept carrying and carrying. Turns out to be a BIG 2 run home run with 2 outs! The crowd goes NUTS! Especially the people at Shea Bridge. Strangers were running around serving up high fives. Awesome moment for yourstruly. Crowd chanted “DUDA! DUDA!” until Duda came out for a curtain call. The crowd in left field kept chanting “LUCAS DUDA! *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* LUCAS DUDA!” between innings. I’ll tell you right now, if a moment like that doesn’t give Duda enough confidence to hang in the big leagues, then I don’t know what will.
Now for the disappointing part….
Mets & Marlins go into extra innings and the Mets current closer, Jason Isringhausen comes in for the 10th inning. At the beginning, I’m wondering why the Mets are allowing their closer to come into a tied game. Izzy gave up hit after hit after hit (I knew the Mets were gonna be in deep shit after Izzy gave up a hit to .188 hitting Dewayne Wise. One of those hits the Mets could’ve gotten the 2nd out with the runner at 1st caught in a rundown. Of course, Daniel Murphy had one of his brain farts at the wrong time and waited until the runner made it so close to 1st to be called safe. I was SO pissed at this point. Now here comes Mike Stanton to the plate. Izzy takes Stanton to a full count WITH THE BASES LOADED! He throws one right down Broadway for a Grand Slam to deep left field. At that point, I knew it was over, but I decided to stick around until the final out was recorded. Of course, the Mets went down 1-2-3 against a crappy reliever. Ugh.
Overall, I had a great time….but the Mets could’ve came through with some more offense in this one. Not the way you wanna start an important 10 game homestand.
To Dave Landon,
I’ve read and enjoyed many of your fine articles. Last night was an exception. You no longer provided game notes. You provided mostly your impressions. And you weren’t balanced. Here are a few reasons the Mets lost the game.
Did you mention the mistake that Angel Pagan made in the ninth inning, trying to take an extra base down two runs in the ninth inning?
Did you mention the mistakes of Mike Pelfrey by not throwing sinkers when he needed a double play.
Did you mention the bad throwing error by David Wright on an easy double play grounder in the fourth inning which ultimately led to a run.
Did you mention the terrible call by Chip Hale to lead Jose Reyes to get thrown out by a lot at home plate?
The answers are NO, NO, NO, and NO. Please Dave, concentrate on game notes. If you want to add your own views, do so like the rest of us do.
Thanks.