Just Mets

It’s one of those streaks for Daniel Murphy where he is almost impossible to get him out.

The stretch was defined by his performance at the plate on Monday night when Murphy went 4-for-5 with a double, home run three runs scored and three RBI. That ascended his line to .384/.438/.548 over his last 20 games with seven walks, six doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI.

The hot streak for Murphy has improved his overall line to .286/.337/.418 which are all in-line with his career averages. So, in other words, the bigger picture suggests Murphy is hitting to expectations so far in 2015.

But it wasn’t always peaches and cream for Murphy this season. In fact, the first six weeks he was not only underperforming, but was not playing well on either side of the ball.

Through his first 32 games of the year, Murphy was hitting just .224/.272/.376 with two home runs and 18 RBI.

Still, Terry Collins never worried for one minute about Murphy, despite what was appearing like a prolonged stretch of poor play by his make-shift second baseman.

“Nothing Murph does surprises me,” Collins explained on Monday night in San Diego. “I’ve seen him do it before. I’ve seen him have a night where you shake your head, and then the next night he puts four or five of the best swings you’ve ever seen on balls and squares them up. That’s why he’s dangerous.”

It looks like Collins’ patience has paid off with Murphy, and on Monday, he was at the center of the Mets unlikely offensive explosion. The four-hit game for Murphy was the 13th such game of his career, and his 13th multi-hit game for the season.

For now, Murphy is one of the most dangerous hitters in the league again, but Murphy is a classic ebbs and flows kind of hitter. Right now, his swing is fantastic, he’s showing those patented quick hands on pitches inside, and he’s attacking pitches and driving the ball as a result. It’s the exact opposite of the swing he has when he’s slumping, when he looks more like a defensive, two-strike hitter in every count, letting go with the bat and feeling for pitches inside the strike zone rather than attacking those pitches.

There’s no explaining the streakiness. It’s simply a part of who Murphy is as a hitter.

“I feel like if I knew exactly what it was, I would have done it a lot earlier,” Murphy said of his streakiness. “Sometimes you get base hits, you have good at-bats. Sometimes you don’t.”

And, that’s Daniel Murphy’s offensive game in a nutshell.