A Brief Post Capitalizing on Daniel Murphy’s Unlikely Success
The purpose of this post, nominally, is to provide some manner of brief but substantive comment on the exploits of second baseman Daniel Murphy, which player just recorded his sixth home run in as many postseason games for the (likely) National League champion Mets. The purpose of this post simultaneously is to capitalize on the enthusiasm of the public for Murphy’s accomplishments by providing an internet link on which they might idly click.
For those reading these words, the second objective has been accomplished. To satisfy the terms of the first objective, the author has produced the following — namely, a table of the 16 qualified batters from 2015 (out of 141 total) who recorded fewer home runs this year over 162 games than Murphy himself has over a half-dozen of them.
| Name | Team | PA | HR | |
| 1 | Brock Holt | BOS | 509 | 2 |
| 2 | Ben Revere | — | 634 | 2 |
| 3 | Nick Markakis | ATL | 686 | 3 |
| 4 | Alcides Escobar | KCA | 662 | 3 |
| 5 | Erick Aybar | LAA | 638 | 3 |
| 6 | Angel Pagan | SFN | 551 | 3 |
| 7 | Dee Gordon | MIA | 653 | 4 |
| 8 | Andrelton Simmons | ATL | 583 | 4 |
| 9 | Yadier Molina | STL | 530 | 4 |
| 10 | Chris Owings | ARI | 552 | 4 |
| 11 | Billy Burns | OAK | 555 | 5 |
| 12 | Anthony Gose | DET | 535 | 5 |
| 13 | Ender Inciarte | ARI | 561 | 6 |
| 14 | DJ LeMahieu | COL | 620 | 6 |
| 15 | Jace Peterson | ATL | 597 | 6 |
| 16 | Jean Segura | MIL | 584 | 6 |
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Oh hey, 3 Braves. Weird that we aren’t watching them play right now huh?
Like how Markakis is apparently an A now.
Edited! Duly!
Thanks Carson!
I think he saw Justin Turner go from scrub to star and think to himself, “if he can do that, I can go from slightly above average to Babe Ruth.”
How many players in history have hit for the cycle in a year in which they only had one other home run?
I don’t know but John Olerud, one of the slowest men in baseball with 11 career steals and 13 career triples in a 17-year career, hit for the cycle not once but twice.
And Charlie Moore, a catcher, hit for the cycle AND stole two bases in the same game:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL198010010.shtml
This is 100% sour grapes from a Cubs fan, but did it go through anyone else’s mind that Murphy is juiced somehow? I mean a slap hitting second baseman doing what NO ONE in the history of the game has done?? I’m not actually trying to throw that accusation out there because I don’t there are any fast-acting ‘roids that would have just kicked in for the playoffs, but it’s just what went through my mind because of how totally out of the blue it’s been. Again, just the ramblings of a bitter Cubs fan who know better and also knows that it was the Mets pitching and the Cubs lack of hitting / decent BAPIP that doomed them, not Murphy.
Or, possibly, he learned how to pull the ball over the second half, started catching fire, and channeled his second-half ISO (which was near .200) into a power surge. Sure, it makes no coherent sense, speaking as a Mets fan. But seriously, that’s a ridiculous accusation.
I really just think he’s a good contact hitter who’s both (a) seeing the ball incredibly well and (b) getting phenomenally lucky right now. Don’t blame you for the sour grapes; if my team had lost (rather than won!!!) because of the insane streak Murphy’s been on I would probably be entertaining similarly, or more, uncharitable speculations.
Wait, you can’t have your cake and eat it too! I’ve seen so many Cubs fans complain about his homer against Arrieta saying it was slow/short/lucky, you can’t also accuse him of being juiced. Most of his HRs barely cleared the wall, it’s not a show of power but of good timing/guessing and of course a bit of luck.
While they may have barely cleared the wall, part of it is that he hit it to the deepest part of the ballpark. His last 2 HR were 410+ feet and would have been out of 23-24 ballparks. His first 2 HR weren’t nearly as far, but he pulled them down the line and they would have been out in every stadium.
Schwarber’s HR off of deGrom, however, wouldn’t have been out of any park except for Wrigley.
I meant to add that these are based on ESPN Home Run Tracker. I don’t know if their data is considered the authority or not.
do a search on twitter. plenty of other cubs fans making the same accusations, along with calling him a homophobe.
That’s because he is…
http://deadspin.com/daniel-murphy-disagrees-with-the-gay-lifestyle-1689309224
Yea, deadspin really advances the conversation there. Murphy obviously was raised this way religiously. He doesn’t sound hateful. He adds things like he can invest in him, get to know him, play with him, show love, respect. Yes, e says he 100% doesn’t agree with the lifestyle. He is honestly answering a question in response to a league inclusiveness initiative. Sure, not as felicitously as the pope. I don’t think by lifestyle he meant people choose to be gay (a take I have heard many say). He likely thinks acting on those impulses are a sin. Probably no better but a different take. Again I don’t believe that but I wasn’t raised in his milieu. For so many to respond simply “homophobe” or “bigot” likely would just make him shut up but not change anything. Billy Bean himself, whose visit occasioned the reporters approaching him and his remarks, took a much more effective tone:
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http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25092909/billy-bean-responds-to-daniel-murphy-i-appreciate-daniel-spoke-his-truth
Thanks for the well thought out reply. It adds another layer and I suppose I shouldn’t have been so reactionary.
Thanks. I get it, the comments he made are hurtful, although I think not intended as such, and if you just have the deadspin article couching it as oafish and just as buzzwords trying to make it socially acceptable (evidently not) without hearing Bean’s response, that’s what sticks in your mind. Bean of course has to be diplomatic, but it wouldn’t be a very effective initiative if he wasn’t.
no
Steroids don’t confer the ability to slug 1.200 in a playoff series. You have to get red hot and lucky to the point where the effect from steroids would be a drop in the bucket.
Steroids *might* give the right player the ability to increase your slugging percentage .100 to .200 points in a full season. Might.
It was ridiculous of me and I apologize and retract it. If I could delete it I would. I wasn’t actually saying it was a plausible theory, just that my mind went there and I wondered if the same was true for others. But I still threw it out there, and that was lame. Murphy and the Mets played flawless ball and just dismantled my team. That’s the real story and I again apologize for laying out the sour grapes and taking away anything from a great victory for the Metropolitans.
I’m a Cubs fan and I shuddered a little bit when I read that… it’s really just the randomness of baseball amplified by the Cubs’s shortcomings being exposed… Congrats to the Mets! Good luck in the WS! Let’s do this again next year! It’s been a fun season, I hope there’s many more!
Since the accusation is obviously going to come up, it might as well be from someone who lays it politely, no worries. I can’t imagine what I would spew to try to rationalize such a devastating loss if I was on the wrong side of it. Looking forward to the do-over next year!
Whenever any player performs well beyond his historical performance, a lot of fans’ first, random though is whether the player might be juicing.
It isn’t fair. But it IS the reality here in 2015. And the players have no one to blame for this except themselves (and MLB and the agents and the reporters and the entire Steroid culture that existed during the “Steroid Era”).
Carson — can you delete my ridiculous post above? It was a total post loss emotional mistake and I really feel like dung for even putting that out there.
Don’t sweat it man. It’s not like your accusations are going to do anything damaging like keeping him out of the Hall of Fame
Well he did it one of his two homers this year, that’s something.
Murphy’s 7 post-season homers have come in the last 12 days. His previous best was 7 HRs in 52 days (Aug 2 to Sept 23 this year).
His last 6 homers have come in the last 9 days. His previous quickest was 6 HRs from Aug 19 to Sep 30 2015 (42 days)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/event_hr.cgi?id=murphda08&t=b
While Murphy has hit 7 homers this postseason, there’s technically only 12 qualified batters “who recorded fewer home runs this year over 162 games than Murphy himself has over a half-dozen of them.”
The last four entries on the table hit the same number of home runs as Murphy has over the last 6 games.
They all have six or fewer; Murphy has seven.
Right. It’s just hat his seven have been over more than his 9 or so games. He’s hit six in his last half dozen games; therefore, the fewer than rule should be enforced using six as the theshold, not seven.