Read: The Fan’s Obsession with Daniel Murphy
In a post to his blog for the New York Post, Joel Sherman poses a series of questions regarding Daniel Murphy, such as:
“Can the Mets trust first base to Murphy for 2010, and use their limited funds to find a No. 2 starter, left fielder and relief help?”
To read quotes from Murphy, speaking about the fans, quality baseball, pressure and winning, read Steve Popper’s report for the Bergen Record.
Jerry Manuel discussed Murphy prior to yesterday’s game, saying to reporters:
“I think he has been just like any good young hitter: for a period of time, stubborn… He was pretty much taking that pitch on the inside, and this year he’s putting a stronger swing on it, and hitting the ball in the right-center gap or hitting it out… That gives me optimism that he could continue to do that over a long period of time… I think he’s going to be what we all thought he would be. We always question where the power was. I think that you’re going to see a pretty good player with some power. I wouldn’t say 30, 35 home runs – I would say a guy who could hit 20-plus homers.”
Murphy is batting .266 and leads the Mets with 11 home runs and 36 doubles – he is seven RBI behind David Wright for the team lead in runs batted in.
In a post to Bob’s Blitz, Bob points out that Tino Martinez hit .257 with 16 home runs and 66 RBI in his first full season in the major leagues.
Last week on WFAN, host Mike Francesa asked, ‘What is it with the Met fans obsession with Daniel Murphy?’
… that’s easy, because there is a section of the fan pool, of which i am in, who love murphy’s story, i.e., the young kid, dedicated, passionate, sort of an over-achiever, home grown, who loves the game, and who plays hard and works even harder… so, i’ll be the first to admit, because of his story, when murphy struggles, i probably look beyond the results… and, when he does well, like last September, April and this September, i see him on a path to being the next Don Mattingly or Mark Grace… even though, deep down inside, i know there is a chance he could very easily find himself on the bench next season, acting as ‘the next Matt Franco,’ as Joe Janish of Mets Today suggested last month…
