I hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July, but you probably didn’t enjoy it as much as Daniel Murphy. Playing against his old team, Murph went 4-for-5 with a double and five RBIs in the Nationals 11-4 win over the Mets.
Among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances against the Mets, Murphy is now tied with Stan Musial for best career batting average against them with a .405 mark. Overall, he is slashing .405/.451/.711 with eight home runs, 11 doubles, 34 RBIs, and 22 runs scored in just 31 games against the Mets.
“Murph’s very steady in his demeanor and personality. That helps,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “I’m sure he gets some satisfaction, which we all do, when you’re playing your former team. I still do when I’m managing against my former teams.”
Murphy has reached base safely in every game played against the Mets except one, in which he only had one pinch-hit at-bat and was retired.
While he predominantly beats up on the Mets, the Amazin’s are not alone in their susceptibility to Murphy’s bat. Overall this season he is batting .341/.395/.575 with 14 home runs, 26 doubles, and 60 RBIs. He is on pace for 203 hits, 5o doubles, 27 home runs and 116 RBIs this season.
“I saw a lot of it in person for five years,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He’s an outstanding hitter.”
The Mets never saw him hit quite like this, however. In 903 games as a Met, Murph slashed .288/.331/.424 averaging 138 hits and nine home runs per season.
After today’s game, the Mets will not have to face Murphy and the Nationals again until August 26 when they play a three-game set in Washington. They then have one more three-game series at Citi Field in September. Those six games will be difficult for the Mets to win if they can not keep Murphy under control, something they have not come close to doing so far.
