Oh Murph!

As a Murph Obsessed and sarcastic Met fan I can’t believe I never saw ohmurph.com until today. The site dubs itself “The Onion of the Mets.”

Today he capitalizes on Murph’s classic behind the back play at first with a story of Murph filing for a patent:

Patent #016401-28, titled “The Murphy Reach Around,” prohibits other first basemen – from the Major Leagues down through Little League – from preforming a similar move.

Keith Hernandez is quoted as saying:

“Much like the Iron Lotus or the Triple Lindy, I always assumed the Reach Around was nothing more than a folk tale, made up by Jimmie Foxx during an all night bender in the 40’s.  Now, the name Daniel Murphy will become synonymous with the Reach Around.”

Go Murph!

The previous post on Oh Murph, Mark DeRosa, True Met is just as funny. I hadn’t realized DeRosa went hitless and then got hurt right after being acquired by the Cards. Wonder how we escaped our destiny on that one.

Nicely done, guys, keep it up.

Young player left on third

To have a guy at third base, a young player like that, and not to get him in, we’ve got to do a better job.– Jerry Manuel

So that was the problem. That they left a poor lonely 23 year old on third base. Strange quote.

Regarding Murphy, so he made the error that allowed the tying run, chased ball 4 to strike out in the first, came up with first and third and no out down 1 in the 7th and hit into a double play, and led off the bottom of the ninth of a tie game and couldn’t get himself in.

OK, let’s try that again. With the gameplan to use up Zambrano’s limited pitch count quickly, Murphy had a 7 pitch strikeout and a 7 pitch walk. Made good contact in the fifth, then with first and third down one in the seventh ripped into line drive double play that would have been a go ahead double had the first baseman not been holding the runner on. Tied in the bottom of the ninth, he hit a lead off triple and got stranded. The day before he pinch hit with 2 on and lined a single to right, and then walked in his other at bat. So Murph’s looking pretty good again, except for chasing one low and inside pitch and making his first error of the season trying to charge a ball for a play at the plate. Nobody’s perfect. Hopefully he’ll recover from that incident of being a yound man left on third base.

Daniel Murphy’s Second Slump

Daniel Murphy has finally proved he’s a Met by entering into a slump in the final week of a pennant race. In his last 14 trips to the plate he reached base once (an opposite field RBI double) with 4 strikeouts.

After Murphy’s first slump I suggested that pitchers had adjusted to Murph’s patient approach of take a few pitches and go the other way, and that Murphy was going to have to start jumping on some early strikes and inside corner fastballs. And indeed he had just broken out of his slump by pulling a game winning double off of Brad Lidge. But then he returned to form and found renewed success, taking pitches and going the other way.

In trying to make out what I can from mlb.com’s hitting charts, it appears that nearly all of Murphy’s extra base hits, including both home runs, were hit the other way. But in this slump we’ve seen the opposite. On Saturday and Sunday Murphy didn’t hit the ball the other way once. He flied out once each to center and to right (both were deep), hit 3 groundouts to second and one to first, and struck out 3 times.

Perhaps Murph has tried and failed to adjust to the pitchers, and really needs to go back to what he was doing, taking pitches and going the other way.

On a lighter side, given that I’ve been overanalyzing Murphy on ridiculously small sample sizes, I figured I’d go one step further and make suggestions based on his splits:

• Murphy has a 1.493 OPS in 11 plate appearances in the 9 spot (as a pinch hitter). Perhaps the Mets should adopt a Tony Larussa strategy of batting the pitcher eighth and then use Murph at 9.
• Murph will probably sit tonite, with a lefty starting. But Murph actually hits better against lefties — 1.278 OPS (also 11 plate appearances) vs. .888 as a righty. [These numbers are probably related. All of Murph’s appearances in the 9 spot and possibly all of his appearances against lefties have been as a pinch hitter, where Murph has been unreal, 1.465 OPS in 16 plate appearances.

OK, I’m a little too Murph-obsessed. But the man has captured my imagination and I’d just love to see him put it all together and join Wright and Reyes in a historically great infield for the next decade. Go Murph!!

Keep Walking, Murph

I know it’s silly to think about these things in the heat of a pennant race. And yet … Daniel Murphy will be considered a rookie next year as long if he can avoid getting 31 at bats over the Mets last 9 games.

If I understand the rules correctly, a player is a rookie next year if he enters it without having done racked up any of the following:

1. 45 days on an MLB roster, NOT INCLUDING SEPTEMBER. So Murph, who was called up on August 2, is cool.
2. 50 innings pitched. With the Mets’ bullpen desperation this could be an issue, but since Manuel rarely uses a reliever for more than one batter at a time, Murph would need like 150 appearances to have a problem here, so he looks pretty safe.
3. 130 at bats. Here’s the problem. Murph has 99. The next 4 announced opposing pitchers are all righties. In any event, Murph has been hitting lefties so well that he might get a start even if a lefty is pitching. Fortunately for Murph (in this context) Manuel doesn’t want to play Murph or Evans in right, so if Manuel wants to play Evans against a lefty (and assuming he doesn’t want to bench Delgado right now), Murph would sit. Murph usually bats second, which will usually give him 4 or 5 plate appearances per game.

I wonder if the Mets clinch the division (or even just a playoff spot) if Manuel would let this consideration factor into his decisions of whom to start the last game or two. Manuel would presumably have bigger considerations, like giving regular days off. (With the division clinched, would he let Murph play 3rd? Right?)

Anyway, the solution is simple. Just walk, baby.

Then you can take the World Series MVP this year and the Rookie of the Year next year. Wouldn’t that be cool.

Daniel Murphy’s Slump

Murphy just had an 0-16 run with 7 strikeouts. Reviving comparisons to Jeff Duncan. In Duncan’s first 35 at bats he showed that he was a guy who could draw walks, bunt for hits, and get lucky finding some holes. The other teams adjusted. They brought the third baseman in, threw strikes, and waited for his luck to reverse. That was it for Jeff Duncan. Similarly, teams have adjusted to Murphy. They’re no longer treating him like a rookie who’ll chase bad pitches. They know he’s a very patient hitter who hits the ball hard the other way. So they’ve adjusted, throwing him strikes, and pitching him more inside. But I have a lot more confidence that Murphy can adjust back. Like Duncan, he’s showed that he can take a lot of pitches. Unlike Duncan, he’s showed that he can hit with authority up the middle and to the other side. Now the question is can he jump out early in the count, and make pitchers pay for fastballs on the inside part of the plate. In the first half of this season, as a 22-year-old in AA he showed he can hit for average and power. I don’t have the spray chart, but I have to assume a lot of the homers were pulled. His game winning double into the right field corner off Brad Lidge last night was a thing of beauty on so many levels. So I know it’s still far too early to tell on Murphy, but I remain quite bullish that he’s going to turn into the real deal. He’s very likely to get a spot on the 2009 roster. At the very least as a guy who can fill in at 2nd, 3rd, the outfield, and as a pinch hitter. I think it’s more likely he’ll be starting at Citi Field next year, at least against righties, either at second base or in left field. And where he starts may depend more on his teammates than it does on him.

Daniel Murphy’s lousy debut

On August 2, Daniel Murphy singled in his first big league at bat and then made a huge game saving double play in the seventh. Anthony DiComo at mets.com spoke of “Daniel Murphy’s sparkling Major League debut.” Ha — a lot he knows. So far that game stands as Murphy’s worst start. Murphy’s stats continue to be dragged down by that dismal performance of just 1 single in 4 trips to the plate. Since then, Murphy has 13 hits (including 2 doubles, a triple, and 2 homers) in 26 at bats, plus 6 walks. But that awful first start has dragged his OPS from 1.473 down to just 1.356.

Over at MetsBlog Matthew Cerrone says that

“Every time [Murphy] gets a hit, and I pump my fist, my wife, who is a Yankees fan, says, “Don’t forget Shane Spencer and Kevin Maas.”

He finishes with

“So, while I feel I am justified in my excitement, I am trying real hard to keep it perspective since I may have made this exact-same post about Jeff Duncan.”

OK Matthew, 2 comments. First, your wife is a spoil sport (which might explain the Yankee fan thing). Second, I remember getting my hopes up about Jeff Duncan too. Murphy’s 5 extra base hits (in 30 at bats) is 2 more than Duncan had in his career (154 at bats). Half of Duncan’s 28 career hits were in his first 35 at bats. After those 35 at bats, Duncan was hitting .400. He also had 11 walks, for an OPS of 1.096, despite just 2 extra base hits. He had 8 strikeouts. If memory serves, 4 of his 14 hits were bunt singles. That was it for Duncan. In his remaining 119 career at bats he had just 14 more hits (13 of them singles), just 7 more walks, and 38 more strikeouts.

So … Murphy’s start is a little better than Duncan’s. Murphy’s OBP matches Duncan’s, and Murphy adds power and fewer strikeouts. But … I share Matthew’s enthusiasm and fears regarding Murphy. Long at bats. Walks. 2 opposite field homers and 2 opposite field doubles. The pinch hitting. We’ll see if he can continue hitting. But it’s so much more satisfying following these guys from the minors to the Mets than picking up veterans. Come on Murph. Keep it up.