Tag Archives: Daniel Murphy

May 22

Mets’ Offense Flat Again In 4-0 Loss To Reds

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jon niese

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The Cincinnati Reds (25-18) shutout the New York Mets (17-25) by the score of 4-0 tonight at a sparsely crowded Citi Field.

Left-hander Jon Niese started for the Mets and and after getting the first two outs in the first inning he allowed a hit and a pair of walks to load the bases. Niese had a chance to come out of the inning unscathed and induced a hard grounder to third for what should have been the third out. However, David Wright committed his fourth error of the season as the ball went under his glove and through his legs allowing two runs to score. Niese was rattled after that and allowed another run to score before finally getting the third out to put the Reds up 3-0. All of the runs were unearned.

Niese threw 48 pitches in that wild first inning and it appeared he was heading for an early shower. But to his credit he gutted out five scoreless innings after that and wound up giving the Mets a very solid effort allowing just five hits and three walks in six innings while striking out seven. Niese took the loss, but saw his ERA improve to 4.80 for the season.

The Reds score their fourth and final run in the ninth when Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco greeted Collin McHugh with a home run to leadoff the inning.

Offensively, the Mets had nothing but blanks… Nothing but the same sorry, pitiful offense that has plagued the team all season. Reds starter Mike Leake hurled seven scoreless innings and allowed the Mets’ only three hits of the game – one each by Lucas Duda, John Buck and Daniel Murphy.

It’s getting pretty hard to watch this team and I thought Sandy Alderson would address that while he visited the with gary Cohen and Ron Darling in the third inning, but he was at a loss for words. He said he was going to continue to hang in there with Ike Davis a little longer, which is the last thing anyone of us wanted to hear. Davis batted seventh and went 0-for-three tonight and saw his batting average fall to .149 for the season. Pathetic.

The Mets will wrap up the series tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 PM when right-hander Matt Harvey (5-0, 1.55 ERA) takes on Mat Latos (4-0, 2.91 ERA) and tries to avoid the sweep.

May 20

Mets Must Develop Consistency In Batting Order

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Constructing a major league batting order is a tricky enough task for a manager in the best of times, let alone with the limited and non-productive options in front of Terry Collins.

It was good to see Daniel Murphy back at leadoff Monday against Cincinnati, but somewhat surprised at first to see Rick Ankiel at second. Then again, Murphy won’t be doing a lot of stealing, so there’s not much of a need for him to work the count.

Then again, working the count might not be such a bad idea if it helps Ankiel get a better pitch and cuts down on his strikeouts. You also have to wonder if having a hot David Wright behind him will have pitchers challenge him by throwing more fastballs inside the zone, which theoretically is the theory of hitters protecting each other in the batting order.

Murphy is on a 14-for-28 tear over his last seven games and Ankiel has two homers since the Mets picked him up last week, so there’s life at the top of the order. Wright has also been swinging a hot bat.

Moving Lucas Duda to cleanup and dropping Ike Davis to sixth seems the best option, although I would drop Davis lower – to Triple-A Las Vegas. But, if he stays, let him stick at seventh. Sixth can be a RBI spot in the order, so why keep Davis there when he’s not producing? Until Davis shows he can produce, and he erroneously has said he needs to hit on this level and not in the minor leagues.

What Davis doesn’t get is this isn’t about the majors vs. the minors, but for him addressing his mechanics and approach. Staying in the majors won’t shake him of his bad habits and approach. That will take diligent work in the minors.

Assuming a full season for Ankiel, from him at second, and including Wright, Duda, Marlon Byrd, Davis and John Buck, the Mets have six straight hitters on pace for over 100 strikeouts. Five Mets who normally start are hitting lower than .240. Overall, the Mets have scored three or fewer runs in 10 of their last 13 games and 15 of their last 22.

In spring training Collins said he wanted consistency in the batting order, but realistically hasn’t had many options. One thing he could do is keep Ruben Tejada eighth, which is prudent considering his .219 average.

Collins has waffled before, but if there’s no replacement for Davis – and general manager Sandy Alderson said that is not imminent – here’s hoping he sticks with this indefinitely.There might be minor tweaking depending on specific match-ups and working others into the lineup, but overall hopefully nothing dramatic.

Look at it this way, there’s nothing working with all the juggling. The Mets have used seven different hitters batting leadoff, fifth and eighth; eight number six hitters; and 11 at seventh.

There’s nothing stable there, and that must change.

As usual, your comments are always welcome and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

May 20

Daniel Murphy Should Remain Leading Off

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It doesn’t matter that Daniel Murphy hit the game-winning homer Sunday afternoon, or that he’s the Mets’ hottest hitter, he should be in the leadoff spot again Monday night at Citi Field.

Because of Murphy’s high on-base percentage, batting him leadoff is something I have advocated, and I’m glad Terry Collins was thinking outside the box enough to make the move.

MURPHY: Current leadoff choice. (MLB)

MURPHY: Current leadoff choice. (MLB)

“He gets on base, because he can hit,’’ Collins told ESPN.com. “And, when he’s swinging good, he can get some walks. We’ve got to get some people on ahead of David [Wright]. That’s for sure.’’

Notice how Collins didn’t mention getting on base ahead of Ike Davis, but I guess he couldn’t say that with a straight face.

Murphy is the seventh Met to hit leadoff this young season, and of the previous six, is there one you can note with conviction will be here next year?

Ruben Tejada (12 times), Jordany Valdespin (10), Mike Baxter (eight), Collin Cowgill (seven), Justin Turner (two) and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (one) have all appeared without much success at the top or the order. Mets leadoff hitters have hit a major league low .185 with a 29th ranked .255 on-base percentage.

Collins was non-committal on how long he’ll use Murphy leading off, but considering he’s a .300 hitter with a .337 on-base percentage, he doesn’t have better options.

With their leadoff hitters and Davis, the Mets have two slots in the batting order hitting less than .200, and overall they have four positions in their regular lineup hitting below .240.

Collins thought about Murphy hitting first during spring training, but then he had to come up with a center fielder and decide what to do with Tejada. Meanwhile, Murphy, because of his willingness to take a pitch, also seemed suited to hitting second.

“I thought about it in spring training, to be honest, whether or not to lead Murph off,’’ Collins said. “We’ll just see how it goes. It might be something we’ve certainly got to consider as we get deeper into the season, because he can hit.

“He gets on base. If he does that, certainly we’ve got to keep our options open with Murph being the leadoff hitter.’’

Murphy hitting first seems the way to go for now, but slotting him there doesn’t alleviate all of Collins’ concerns. Rick Ankiel can be an answer defensively in center field, but the outfield remains subpar.

The Mets now need a No. 2 hitter, but because Tejada insists on hitting fly balls, he’s not an ideal fit there.

Let’s face it, currently Murphy and Wright are the only hitters in the lineup who are reliable.

May 19

Mets Wrap, May 19: Daniel Murphy, Juan Lagares Power Victory

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Juan Lagares and Daniel Murphy homered to pick up Dillon Gee, and the bullpen came up with a superb effort with four perfect innings to give the Mets a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs Sunday at Wrigley Field. The victory gave the Mets their first series victory since they beat Washington, April 19-21, at Citi Field.

RECORD: 17-24, 4th NL East

ON THE MOUND: Dillon Gee gave up three runs on eight hits in five innings for the no-decision. … Scott Rice was superb in relief retiring six straight hitters. … The Mets also received a strong one-out showing from Greg Burke and Bobby Parnell worked the ninth for his sixth save. … The Mets’ bullpen retired 12 straight hitters.

AT THE PLATE: Inserted in the leadoff spot, Murphy hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth. … Lagares hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the seventh. He had two hits in the game. … The Mets had six hits in the game and struck out seven times.

BY THE NUMBERS: 15-for-29: Murphy’s hot streak.

THEY SAID IT: “Everything comes to a head at some point.’’ – GM Sandy Alderson when asked if there was a limit to Ike Davis’ slump after saying sending him so

ON DECK: Shaun Marcum is scheduled to open the Mets’ three-game series against Cincinnati, beginning Monday at Citi Field.

As always, your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

May 19

Sacking Terry Collins Now Would Be Unfair

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Terry Collins will go to home plate tomorrow with the line-up card and likely get booed. Surely, he’ll hear it when he makes a pitching change.

COLLINS: Give him a fair chance.

COLLINS: Give him a fair chance.

It won’t be fair, but we know few things in baseball aren’t fair.

Collins doesn’t have a contract beyond this season, and his lame duck status rises to the surface when the Mets go into a tailspin, as they did last week when they lost a season-high six straight games, and he later blasted the fans over the Jordany Valdespin episode.

I ripped him over Valdespin with no regrets, but Collins does deserve some points for his clarification the next day. He didn’t retract, which is fine, didn’t say he was misquoted, which is commendable, but said there was room for interpretation.

Sometimes, I don’t get where Collins is coming from when he waffles – for example, I don’t think he gave Collin Cowgill a long enough opportunity in center/leadoff at the start of the season – but for the most part realize he’s dealing with a lack of depth and talent.

Assuming there’s no turnaround, this will be Collins’ third straight losing season, enough to get most managers sacked, but there is a unique scenario in Flushing.

Collins was not hired to take the Mets to the playoffs. He was hired as a caretaker and to change the culture. He is being asked to win a poker hand with five cards worth of mismatched talent. When it comes to discarding cards, Collins might keep David Wright and Matt Harvey, but that’s about it.

Sandy Alderson – also hired as a caretaker – and ownership, which is trying to stabilize its financial ship, have not given Collins a genuine opportunity to win.

Collins has not changed the culture, but he’s not had total support from Alderson in that regard. How else can you explain Valdespin’s presence on the roster? Also, Alderson’s comments yesterday about it not being imminent Ike Davis will be optioned shows a lack of changing the culture.

And, not for a second do I buy there’s no other alternative. The issue isn’t who will play first base for a month in a lost season, but why won’t they make the decision to do something to help Davis?

That falls on Alderson, not Collins.

A way you determine whether a manager is reaching his players is if they’ll still hustle for him and if he loses his clubhouse, and there’s not enough evidence of either. The captain, Wright, plays hard and is the proper example.

However, keeping Valdespin’s toxic attitude and Davis’ dysfunctional bat could gradually eat away at this team’s psyche. Collins’ lame duck status can also do the same.

If the Mets are to be financially whole after this season and show a willingness to spend to add talent, then Collins should get the opportunity to manage that team. He should get the chance to manage with some degree of talent in his dugout.

In looking at the Mets’ 25-man roster, I only see a handful of players I can say with certainty will be back next year: Wright, Harvey, Jon Niese and Bobby Parnell. I can see Daniel Murphy back, but also dealt in July. I can see somebody else playing shortstop next year. Everybody else I can see gone.

That indicates no core or organizational depth, and that’s not Collins’ fault. Give Collins time with a full deck and then make a decision. It’s not fair to do so otherwise.

As always, your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos