2015 has been a rough year Daniel Murphy, but Monday night’s performance could be a major turning point for him and the team as well.
Murphy crushed a dramatic three run shot off of Marlins closer Steve Cishek in the 9th inning to give the Mets a 3-1 lead over their division rivals. He followed that up with a great defensive stab in the bottom of the ninth to keep the Marlins off the board and preserve the victory.
“Dan’s night,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He’s Murphalicious; that’s what we know he can do.” (Adam Rubin)
“I’m hitting it on the barrel; that seems to be different than it was in the early part of the season,” Murphy said. “I wasn’t hitting a lot of stuff on the barrel.”
“I’m not going to wake up tomorrow, no matter what I do, and be hitting .290. So it’s just one at-bat at a time. That’s all I can control right now.”
Murphy says that over the weekend, he made a hitting adjustment with Kevin Long and is now standing closer to the plate and no longer as susceptible to pitches away as he used to be.
“We’ve been playing with that and trying to get comfortable in there,” Murphy told reporters after the game.
“It’s always nice to hit some balls hard once you make an adjustment. So hopefully it’s something we’ll continue working on. One at-bat at a time. I know it’s a cliché. But I’m not going to go 15-for-4 tomorrow.”
However, Murphy joked saying he was in such a surreal moment after the home run, that aside from rounding the bases he couldn’t even say what kind of a pitch he hit.
“I didn’t even know if it was a heater or not. They told me it was. I wasn’t sure. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but we’ll take it.”
In a classy move, Murphy immediately praised Dillon Gee after Steve Gelbs asked him to describe the home run.
“Dillon Gee pitched his butt off. He battled and pitched a great game. He had like 60 pitches going into the 8th. Him and KP were in a groove all night.”
“As for the two doubles yesterday and the homer tonight it felt good, but not nearly as good as the support I get from my teammates. These are the greatest teammates I’ve ever played with in my life.”
Thoughts:
Murphy is really starting to heat up. He’s batting .263 with a home run and 9 RBI in his last five games. Overall, his team leading 14 RBI puts him on pace for 95+ this season.
A hamstring injury he suffered during spring training likely contributed to his slow start, and the adjustment he made is an encouraging sign that he’s ready to break out of his slump.
Despite his faults in the field, Murphy has been a solid and consistent producer during the past few years. From 2011-2014, Murphy is batting .294 with a .747 OPS.
