Daniel Murphy

The Mets Infield Is Eric Campbell

Right now, the Mets are in a prolonged offensive slump. It seems like every Met not named Yoenis Cespedes is having problems at the plate. Here’s how bad things are. Here are the triple slash lines for every Mets infielder (except Matt Reynolds) since the West Coast trip began:

  1. .176/.300/.235
  2. .227/.320/.273
  3. .152/.243/.273
  4. .129/.325/.258
  5. .200/.250/.267
  6. .235/.278/.294

Look at this list. Now, go and pick out which player is Eric Campbell. No, it’s not all Campbell. Yes, those are the real stats. Yes, each of the Mets infielders has been presented in that grouping. Take a look again and pick out which one is Eric Campbell. 

The answer is number 2.  

The other players were Lucas Duda (#1), Neil Walker (#3), David Wright (#4), Wilmer Flores (#5), and Asdrubal Cabrera (#6). 

Campbell’s numbers are not too far off his career slash line of .230/.319/.321. What’s interesting about that is every Mets infielder is hitting like Eric Campbell right now. Not surprisingly, Eric Campbell is the best version of himself. Since the West Coast trip, Campbell is second among Mets infielders in batting average, OBP, and slugging.

He’s even added a few nice defensive plays. He had the diving stop at third for the final out of the game on Mother’s Day. He made two nice defensive plays at first last night including robbing Daniel Murphy of an extra base hit in what was then a tied game. So no, Eric Campbell isn’t the problem. He’s performing about as well as you can reasonably expect the last man on your bench to perform. 

No, the problem is everyone on the Mets infield is performing like they’re Eric Campbell. 

We can all talk about the Mets striking out too much. We can talk about their supposed over reliance on the homerun. We can talk about their problems hitting with RISP. We can talk about all of that at length. However, we first need to find out how the Mets entire infield hits like Eric Campbell now. 

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Nationals Walked Away With This One

On what must’ve been a trying day for Bartolo Colon and both of his families, he just didn’t have it. 

For the first time since 2005, Colon walked five batters. Twice he walker back to back batters. He only lasted 4.2 innings allowing five hits, three earned, and the aforementioned five walks with our strikeouts. At times, it did look as if he was getting squeezed by the home plate umpire. At this point it should be mentioned that umpires are human:

Colon had his chance to come out of the game with a no decision. In the fourth  Yoenis Cespedes had tied the game at 1-1. 

Up until that point, the Mets had been one-hit through 3.2 innings by Gio Gonzalez, who has dominated the Mets. In his career, Gonzalez is 9-4 with a 2.66 ERA. At Citi Field, he’s 6-1 with a 1.54 ERA. Tonight was more of the same with him pitching 6.1 innings allowing five hits, one earned, and one walk with five strikeouts. 

As mentioned before, Colon entered the fifth tied 1-1. Colon allowed the first two batters to reach base, and Daniel Murphy stepped to the plate. In his prior at bat, Murphy singled home a run past a diving David Wright. This time, he pulled one down the first base line, but he was robbed of an extra base hit by Eric Campbell, who made his second terrific defensive play of the game. Colon would strike out Ryan Zimmerman, but he just couldn’t put Anthony Rendon away. 

There were a few times Terry Collins looked as if he would lift Colon in the fifth. He even sent Dan Warthen to talk to him, but he never pulled the trigger apparently wanting to get Colon through five innings. While the move was understandable, it cost the Mets. 

By the way, speaking of stealing hits from Murphy, Juan Lagares showed he really is back to his Gold Glove form by doing his best Willie Mays impersonation

 https://vine.co/v/i09PLrLFExB

Murphy finished the night 1-4 with two RBI (including the above sacrifice fly). His batting average dropped to .395. 

The Mets tried to muster a rally in the seventh after falling behind 5-1. They loaded the bases with one out. However, both Kevin Plawecki and Michael Conforto grounded out against the lefty Felipe Rivero. It all but assures Collins will never hit Conforto against a lefty again.  

When all was said and done, the Mets pitching failed the offense that failed them. The Mets entered the game allowing the least amount of walks. Tonight, they allowed 11 walks and hit two batters. They would lose 7-1. The Mets not only dropped the game, but also dropped back down to third place. Still, they are only 1.5 games back with plenty of games against the Nstionals and the season. 

Game Notes: For the second straight game, Plawecki was successful throwing out a base stealer. Just to bring some levity to a frustrating game, here’s Cespedes making a goofy play in LF:

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Thor Wins Pitcher’s Duel

Tonight promised to be a pitcher’s duel, and it did not disappoint. The difference in the game was Max Scherzer made two mistakes and Noah Syndergaard made none. 

Curtis Granderson took the first pitch from Scherzer, and he homered to right. Scherzer would be careful with Granderson the rest of the game. Granderson would finish the night 2-2 with a run, RBI, the aforementioned homerun, and two walks. It appears that Granderson is breaking out of his May slump. 

The Mets needed it too. Before the first pitch, the Mets discovered neither Lucas Duda or David Wright would be available. Wright’s back flared up necessitating he sit. Duda’s own back issues re-emerged requiring him to receive an injection and sit. In their stead, Eric Campbell and Matt Reynolds manned the corners. It was Reynold’s major league debut. He played third, batted ninth, and wore Wright’d glove. Campbell and Reynolds each went 0-3. Campbell struck out twice, and Reynolds struck out once. 

It was a lineup reminiscent of last July. Like last July, Granderson provided the offense. Like last July, Michael Conforto came to the rescue. In the third, he homered to right to make it a 2-0 game. Syndergaard did the rest. 

Syndergaard pitched seven innings only allowing five hits, no earned, and no walks while striking out 10. He had the pitches coming in at 100 MPH. Before the game, Bryce Harper said at the ESPN Upfront event he was curious as to what would happen against the 100 MPH fastball. The answer was an 0-3 night with two strikeouts against Syndergaard. 

Aside from the two mistakes, Scherzer matched Syndergaard pitch for pitch. He allowed three hits, two earned, and three walks while striking out 10. He did all he could do, but he didn’t get much help from anyone other than Daniel Murphy. 

It was Murphy’s first game back at Citi Field since signing with the Nationals in the offseason. In the first inning, he made a sparkling defensive play robbing Campbell of a hit:

After that play, Murphy would get his first official at bat against the Mets. Before the at bat, Murphy would get a well deserved ovation:

Murphy would foul out to third. Before his next at bat, he would be booed. Murphy responded by dropping a single over the head of his replacement, Neil Walker. Overall, Murphy would go 1-3 dropping his batting average from .400 to .399. 

Despite Murphy’s and Scherzer’s efforts, the Mets shut down the Nationals. Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia came on and slammed the door shut. The Mets won 2-0, took sole possession of second place, and moved within a half-game of the Nationals. The Mets can take over first place with a win tomorrow. 

Game Notes: Kevin Plawecki had a nice game going 1-3 and throwing out Ben Revere trying to steal a base. It was only the fourth runner in 33 attempts thrown out while Syndergaard was on the mound. Of course, Oliver Perez entered the game and got his only batter out. Here was the Mets pregame video tribute to Murphy:

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Thor-Scherzer a Pitching Duel Tonight

Lost in Daniel Murphy’s return to Citi Field is the fact that we have a good old fashioned pitching duel between the two best teams in the NL East. 

The Nationals have Max Scherzer who is coming off a historic 20 strikeout game. The last time he faced the Mets he threw a no-hitter. 

The Mets have Noah Syndergaard or 

So far this year, Syndergaard is doing things we’ve never seen before and may never see since. In his last start, Syndergaard allowed two earned over eight innings with six strikeouts. By the way, he also hit two homeruns. In his last start against the Nationals, he allowed only two hits and one run over seven innings while striking out 10. 

Tonight should be a terrific pitcher’s duel amongst two of the game’s best. Looking over the rosters, just about every time these teams meet, we should see a pitcher’s duel. These 19 games are going to be fun . . . especially when the Mets win them. 

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Can Murphy Hit .400?

Sooner or later someone is going to hit .400. It’s been 75 years since Ted Williams famously played both ends of a double header bumping his batting average from .400 to .406. It was the last time anyone has hit over .400 in a season. 

There have been some famous chases for that elusive .400 batting average. In 1980, George Brett was hitting .400 until September 19th. He finished the year hitting .390. In 1994, Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 until August 11th, which was also the last game of the season due to the strike. These were two Hall of Fame players, and they fell short. 

Daniel Murphy isn’t a Hall of Famer, but he’s making a charge to hit .400. A big reason why is there is no safe place to pitch him:

Right now, there’s no way to neutralize him. He’s hitting .385 off of righties and .452 off of lefties. He’s hitting .415 at home and .387 on the road. He hit .370 in April, and he’s currently hitting .441 in May. He has played in 38 games, and he’s sitting exactly at .400. Accordingly, he’s 23% of the way there. 

In 1941, Williams played in all of the Red Sox 154 games. It wouldn’t be until 1961 that MLB changed to the 162 game schedule. When Williams had played his 38th game, he was hitting .422. He was in the middle of a 16 game stretch where he hit .557 raising his average from .369 to .436. 

So Murphy is far off Williams’ pace. Murphy’s chase to .400 is further complicated by his having to face the Mets pitchers 19 times this season. With that said, as we saw last October, with Murphy, anything is possible. 

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Mets Decision on Murphy Not Looking Good

Coming into this season, Fangraphs showed how the Mets switch from Daniel Murphy to Neil Walker would hurt the Mets in 2016. The projections were that Murphy would have a better year in Washington than Walker would have in New York. 

So far, the projections were right. Murphy has been better with the Nationals than Walker has been with the Mets.  Much better. 

Coming into a three game litmus test for both the Mets and Nationals, Murphy is having a career year. He’s leading the big leagues with 56 hits. A month and a half into the season, he’s still hitting a major league leading .400.  Among major league second basemen, he’s among the leaders in nearly every statistical category:

  • Doubles (13) – 1st NL & 2nd MLB
  • Triples (2) – 2nd NL & MLB
  • Homers (5) – 3rd NL & 9th MLB
  • RBI (3) – 2nd NL & 3rd MLB
  • OBP (.433) – 2nd NL & MLB
  • SLG (.629) – 1st NL & MLB
  • WAR (1.7) – 1st NL & 5th MLB

Murphy is a big reason why the Nationals are in first place. It is unrealistic to expect Murphy to keep up this pace. He’s never been this type of hitter. With that said, it’s a month and a half into the season, and Murphy is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, he’s been better in May than April. Even without facing the Mets once, he’s been a thorn in their side. 

No matter how you look at it, Murphy been the best second baseman in the National League. He’s been the best second baseman to switch teams. Even with Walker tying the Mets record for homers in a single month, the Mets decision to pass on Murphy doesn’t look good. 

However, the Mets moving on from Murphy wasn’t about 2016. It was about the future. The Mets, a win-now team, made a decision in Murphy based on the future. 

The wisdom of the Mets decision will be judged by how Walker plays this year in comparison to how Murphy plays. It will be judged by how Dilson Herrera plays when he becomes the full time second baseman. It will be judged by how the compensation pick the Mets received for Murphy develops. 

Ultimately, the Mets decision will be judged upon whether the Mets win the World Series. Murphy was the Mets best player in the postseason last year. The Mets don’t beat the Dodgers without him. They don’t go to the World Series without him. 

It’s too soon to judge the Mets decision on passing on Murphy. However, with him helping the Mets biggest competition in the NL East, the early returns aren’t good. 

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Murphy’s Earned a Standing Ovation

This is as bad as it gets. You’re down a run against one of the best pitchers in baseball. Your guy is great, but he’s struggling. He just doesn’t have it. You lose this game, and your season is over. Someone has to do something and quick. That’s when Daniel Murphy did this:

With one stolen base, Murphy swung the momentum of that game. With his homer in the sixth, Murphy gave the Mets the lead:

Almost single-handedly, Murphy won Game Five of the NLDS.  Without Murphy, the Mets lose in the NLDS. 

Instead, the Mets won, and they hosted the Cubs in the NLCS. In his first at bat, Murphy let the Cubs know that 2015 wasn’t going to be their year:

Murphy went off on a homerun binge en route to winning the NLCS MVP Award:

This is all why you give Murphy a massive standing ovation when he steps to the plate tonight. Regardless of how you felt about his time as a Met or his move to the Nationals, you give him a standing ovation. That magical run to the World Series doesn’t happen without Murphy. If you enjoyed one iota of that run, you owe him a standing ovation. 

Murphy’s earned it. Stand up and cheer. 

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Vote Murphy

Over at the Oh Murph, or OMDC, I explained why Mets fans should be voting for Daniel Murphy to start at second for the NL in the All Star Game. Here’s the link. 

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Stay Up Tonight

It’s that time of the season most Mets fans dread. It’s that time for the extended west coast trip. The games start at 10:00, and you are either dozing off at the end of the game, or you’re exhausted the next morning. 

We didn’t feel that way the Mets last road trip. Coincidentally, the first (and only) game of that road trip was also started by Jacob deGrom. Some of you refer to it as Game 5 of the NLDS. Others refer to it as “The Murphy Game.” Each and every Mets fan was treated to an absolutely gut wrenching instant classic game. The Mets won that game and the NLDS. Not one Mets fan fell asleep during that game. The adrenaline of that win carried Mets fans through the next day. Actually, the adrenaline from that game carried the Mets and Mets fans through the NLCS and into the World Series. 

So tonight, hang in there if you can. You never know what amazing things you’re going to see night in and night out with the Mets dangerous lineup and rotation. Last time, it was the NLDS. Who knows what’ll be tonight  

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Mets Relief Pitching is Dominant Too

It’s only been 20 games, but there’s a lot to talk about with the Mets. There’s Neil Walker turning into Postseason Daniel Murphy. There’s Noah Syndergaard becoming the ace of the staff. Michael Conforto is already batting third, and he’s already become the Mets best hitter. 

Also, the bullpen has been dominant. Really dominant. 

The Mets bullpen has recorded with nine saves with a 2.54 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP in 69 appearances. They’ve recorded 78 strikeouts in 63.2 innings pitched. That’s good for a 11.03 K/9. All these numbers are all the more impressive when you consider it includes Rafael Montero‘s 11.57 ERA and 2.571 WHIP. When you back out Montero’s stats, the Mets bullpen would have a 2.20 ERA and an 1.17 WHIP. 

Of particular note, Jim Henderson, Hansel Robles, and Addison Reed have been outstanding. They have combined to pitch 29.2 innings with a 1.82 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and a 12.74 K/9. The group of them have created the perfect bridge to Familia. 

All the more impressive is that the Mets bullpen has performed this well without Jeurys Familia getting going. He has a 2.45 ERA and a 1.545 WHIP. However, even with his relative struggles, the he’s still a perfect 7/7 in save opportunities. Even better, he seems to have settled down, and he’s starting to pitch better. Over his last two appearances, he hasn’t allowed a baserunner. Once Familia returns to form, and there is no doubt he will, the Mets bullpen will become even more dominant. 

That’s bad news for teams that are trying to get into the Mets bullpen after 6-7 innings against one of the Mets aces. Overall, the Mets not only have the best starting pitching staff in the majors, they really have the best pitching in the majors period. 

Editor’s Note: this article was also published on metsmerizedonline.com

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