The beauty of the game of baseball is there is always tomorrow, for better or for worse.
That’s the old cliche, anyway. But sometimes, tomorrow doesn’t come for players and teams.
It seemed to be going that way for Daniel Murphy in the early part of the year. At the plate, he was 11-for-68 with eight RBI for the year heading into the ninth inning on Monday. That’s a .162 batting average.
Tomorrow just wasn’t coming for Murphy.
What’s worse, Murphy had committed four errors at second base, with a myriad of other mental mistakes both on the field and on the bases, most recently less than 24 hours before 1100 miles north in the Bronx.
Tomorrow just seemed to be further distancing itself from Murphy.
Then came Monday night.
Murphy was already 0-for-3 against Marlins RHP Jared Cosart, who was lights out against the Mets offense for eight superb innings in the humid and cavernous confines of Marlins Park. Marlins manager Mike Redmond decided to pull Cosart the inning prior, a move which at the time looked smart considering pinch hitter Justin Bour broke through with a single against Mets starter Dillon Gee, followed by two consecutive singles by Dee Gordon and Martin Prado plating the only run of the night.
The problem for Redmond was he replaced the brilliant Cosart with Steve Cishek, who had a career 4.80 ERA against the Mets coming into his save chance in the ninth inning last night.
He went for the jugular (which was the right called) and paid a price for it.
Juan Lagares led off with a gift double thanks to Marcel Ozuna misplaying a deep flyball to center field. Then, Cishek walked Lucas Duda.
Then came Murphy, who launched a three-run home run to right field to give the Mets the lead and pave the way for the club’s 15th win in 20 games in 2015.
Tomorrow was finally here for Murphy.
Redemption.
It was Murphy’s second home run of the year. It was his biggest hit of the year, and arguably the biggest and most inspirational win of the year for the club.
“This was a tough day for us,” Terry Collins said after the win. “After all of the hoopla of the last weekend and getting in [to Miami] early this morning, to come out and win this ballgame was big.
“We’re tired. Make no mistake about it. We’re stinkin’ beat. And when you can have that surge of energy, that’s a huge pick-me-up,” Collins said.
Leading up to the home run, Murphy had been encouraged by his progress at the plate. He has moved closer to it so to eliminate the advantage pitchers had gained against him on the outside edge. That has allowed him to cover the plate more with the barrel of the bat, he believes.
“I’m hitting it on the barrel,” Murphy explained. “That seems to be different than it was the first part of the season. I wasn’t hitting a lot of stuff on the barrel. Even tonight, I hit a ball hard at [Dee Gordon]. I was fortunate to have that at-bat in the ninth. Two barrels is different than probably the first 15 games of the year.”
What was a classic pitchers duel for nearly eight innings quickly became a rollercoaster of a game for the Mets. In the end, they came up victorious thanks to a big hit in their last at-bat, and a big play by Murphy in the bottom of the ninth inning to save the tying run from coming to the plate.
Murphy was everyone’s hero on Monday night, except Murphy’s. Asked by SNY’s Steve Gelbs after the game whether he wanted to talk about his home run or huge defensive play in the ninth inning, Murphy said, “Actually, I want to talk about Dillon Gee.”
Redemption with class.
Just Mets 