It’s been a common refrain all season long, but on Thursday night Daniel Murphy came through again for the Mets, this time putting on his own one-man show.
Murphy, who has literally carried this team offensively for the past six weeks, delivered his most memorable game yet as a Met, a 3-for-4 performance that accounted for all the Mets scoring in their dramatic 3-2 win over the Dodgers to win the NLDS.
With two runs scored and two RBIs in Game 5, Murphy ended the series batting .333 and was easily the team’s MVP in their first playoff round in nine years.
It all started in the first inning after Curtis Granderson was ruled out on hard infield smash that was challenged by Terry Collins and overturned, giving Grandy an infield single. But there was no doubt in the next at-bat when Murphy ripped an RBI double to score Granderson and put the Mets up 1-0.
However, the real magic happened in the fourth inning, when Murphy atoned for every bad baserunning decision he’s ever made with a play that had to be seen to truly appreciate just how remarkable it was.
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Unbelievable… That play stunned and embarrassed the Dodgers so much, that after Murphy scampered home with the second Mets run of the game, you could see Andre Ethier and Don Mattingly in a heated shouting match in the dugout between innings.
“He saw all the infielders in the middle of the infield, so he said he didn’t want to try to speed up. He just kept jogging,” manager Terry Collins said. “As soon as he hit second, he took off for third and obviously made it. That tells you the player Dan Murphy is. He’s alert. He’s always trying to find an edge. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but tonight it worked.”
The cherry on top (or should I say cherry-bomb) came two innings later when with the game knotted at 2-2, the under-appreciated second baseman hit his third homer of the series to put the Mets ahead for good in the sixth. It was a no-doubter that became the crushing, back-breaking moment that sucked all the remaining life out of the Dodgers for once and for all. They looked so limp, lifeless and impotent the rest of the way, that clearly they resigned themselves to a deflating $300 million dollar first round series loss. Money can’t buy everything.
Said Mets captain David Wright about Murphy’s performance, “I’ve never seen him this locked in. To go have those types of at-bats against those pitchers under these circumstances just shows you how well he’s seeing the ball and how dangerous he can be.”
Murphy himself took no credit for his obvious heroics, “The hero? You can pick anybody in here. They’re a hero. Everybody’s a hero. Everybody had a piece of this.”
And yet the underlying story to this incredible playoff performance by Daniel Murphy, is the uncertainty that he’s likely playing his last days as a Met. It’s a somber reality that is mixed in with a night of pure magic and a memorable moment that will forever be a part of the team’s rich history.
I am still stunned, exhilarated, and emotionally drained by what unfolded on that field last night. All the drama, all the tension, and each heart-pounding moment is still so vivid and leaves me breathless
What a night, what a game, what a moment… And mostly, what a truly amazing team we have in the 2015 New York Mets.
