Posts Tagged ‘Daniel Murphy’

Flushing, NY – New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya announced today the team has signed Instant Replay to a major league contract.  A late season call up in 2008, Instant Replay had mixed results in the early going, losing in its debut when an Alex Rodriguez homerun was upheld after a challenge by the Tampa Bay Rays. 

This season, however, Replay has been far more successful, including a perfect 5-0 record with Mets.  “The Mets just felt like the right fit for me.  Jerry [Manuel] has already shown a real willingness to use me in game situations, at home and on the road,” Replay said in explaining why he chose the Mets despite interest from other clubs.

Minaya, meanwhile, gushed about Replay’s abilities. “He’s a three tool player.  He can determine whether a home run is fair or foul, whether a home run actually clears the fence, and whether a fan interferes with a ball.  And he’s still young.” 

However, Replay has its detractors around the league.  Having already signed an endorsement deal with Sharp Aquos, some argue Replay has been given too much too soon.  And many fans and a few GM’s still oppose its presence in the sport.  “Look, most of baseball once thought black players had no business in the game.  But then we were blessed with Jackie Robinson.  I’m not saying I’m like Jackie or anything, but if I can have some success at this level, then maybe it’ll open the door for other forms of Replay to make it to the Bigs – plays at the plate or plays at first or balls and strikes – who knows!  Trust me, there’s a lot of talent in the Replay Leagues.” 

Details of the contract have not yet been disclosed, but it is believed to be a one year deal worth a year of HBO and a new remote.

To get your dose of Murph around the web…. check these out:

Metsradamus talks about Murphy’s Law of Physics…

Brooklyn Met Fan states that D-Murph Goes Off…

SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt caught up with Murph after the game.

MLB.com: Murphy comes to Johan’s rescue

Metsblog’s Matt Cerrone states that Daniel Murphy is only 24 Years old

Newsday talks about the Replay Reversal that gave Murpher a homer as the Mets win…

Daniel Murphy had a career night tonight. Murph went 3-4 with a career high 5 RBI.  In the 6th inning he connected on a shot that hit off the Subway sign in Right Field that was originally called a double, however, for the fourth time in the past week, a replay was needed and the called was overturned.

Murphy topped off the night with a 2 run RBI double to deep left  in the 7th.

He was stranded at 2nd when Fernando “I don’t run out balls” Martinez popped out to Center on an unnecessary sliding catch.

Murphy looks like he has his swagger back.  Great night for him and for the first place New York Mets.

I don’t think Jerry will be benching him Friday.  But you never know with this guy…

Editors Note: A very special thanks to Daniel Murphy for giving this site at least another few days of life

Please enjoy these relatively useless and highly unenjoyable pictures from this weekend at Fenway.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohmurph/

Thanks for nothing,

Craig

While the current global recession has led to massive job losses throughout just about every industry, there is one profession that has seen substantial gains even in this tough economy. The insurance business in the tri-state area has seen an influx of new agents who were inspired by the same tragic story.

Daniel Murphy was a typical small town boy who had one dream and one dream only: to grow up and one day become an “insurance person”.  Not all children are gifted with the same talents and Daniel’s life would soon take an unfortunate turn.  While most of the other children began developing the skills that would lead them to bright futures in the insurance products industry, Daniel had to slowly accept the realization that his true talents lay elsewhere.  

For almost two decades Daniel tried to break into the insurance industry, but last year he was forced to give up his dream and accept a fall back position playing professional baseball for the New York Mets.  While not as tragic as playing for the Yankees, Daniel’s story has still inspired a generation of new insurance agents who are also avid sports fans.  To account for the massive industry growth, these sports minded agents have been introducing cutting edge policies covering everything from self inflicted gun shot wounds, wage losses due to steroid suspensions, and a even a new extended entourage policy.

When contacted to inform him of how he has inspired so many others, Murphy took a break from his sexual encounter with two local fashion models to express his regrets.  ”Unfortunately, the feeling I get while rounding the bases after hitting a home run at Citi Field still makes me yearn for the true thrill of cold calling potential clients to discuss their term life insurance needs.  I can only imagine the empty feeling I will get while signing my next Major League contract only to be wishing that I was really signing a new combination home, life and auto insurance policy with a safe driver rebate and low deductible.”

I’m a white boy from Virginia. Who do you THINK I’m voting for?”  - David Wright, October 2008 at Duke’s Original Roadhouse, NYC (from first-hand sources *)

So you think Daniel Murphy’s in a slump. Some sort of rut, or “funk,” as the Mets’ second-winningest manager Willie Randolph liked to say. As of the end of the 4-3 win over the Braves last night (in which Murph went 0-3), his BA is down to a pedestrian .277.  Murph’s now gone two for his last twenty something over the past week – or so the liberal media would have you believe.

They say numbers never lie. But you know who does? The bedwetting liberal national media, that’s who. Murphaholics know full well that it’s physically impossible for Murphy to ever, ever, ever go into any kind of slump – he famously never heard of the word until he reached the bigs – but the biased NY-based media outlets have gone to amazing lengths to make Murph look bad for what amounts to the baseball equivalent of affirmative action.

The media has been using stock footage from the first five weeks of the season as well as advanced CGI in place of Murphy’s more recent at-bats, directing SNY play-by-play man Gary Cohen to read from a script during live broadcasts.  Murphy’s two inside-the-park home runs in last Saturday’s game against the Pirates were instead substituted for a strikeout and pop out. Along the exit gates, Citi Field staff have been outfitted with memory erasers like the ones used in the Men in Black movies. The goal? Make Daniel Murphy seem simply ordinary.  Some, like FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly, suggests the liberal media is simply pandering to a heavily Latin ball club.

“An all-American white kid from the south playing in the country’s most left-leaning media market? Please.  The kid doesn’t have a chance,” FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly was quoted as saying.  When asked by a caller why David Wright received no such treatment over the last few years, O’Reilly scoffed and responded, “Please, there’s only room for one Jesus on ‘Los Mets.’ Their front office doesn’t want the Lopez’s and Gomez’s or whoever else to protest with a siesta if a second white guy outperformed them regularly.”

Ex-MSNBC personality Michael Savage see things in bigger perspective. “Mets ownership dedicated their ballpark’s entrance to the wrong guy. Where’s the Moses Fleetwood Walker Rotunda? Oh right, not recent enough for a feel-good story.  Look, Major League Baseball is too caught up in protecting its diverse image, so it doesn’t surprise me once bit that young Danny Murphy’s accomplishments are being adversely manipulated to make him look ordinary.  This Carlos Beltran has suppsedly been on fire since day one, Luis Castillo may end up being comeback player of the year or whatever, and Johan is pitching decently, but yet the New York fans get on David Wright for being among the league leaders in strikeouts and fails to come through in big spots? Open your eyes, America.”

Eventually, though, The Murph can’t be held down for long.  The media will eventually relent and let Murph’s fair skin take up the back page or head the sports show highlights.

We’re not going to take it much longer… and you can bet your ass Murph won’t either.

Opinions expressed in this post are solely the poster’s and do not in anyway reflect the thoughts or beliefs of ohmurph.com

* Not necessarily true

Mothers day for many people means flowers, dinner, and for some baseball fans, maybe a trip to the ballpark with dear ol’ mom.  In this special edition of Oh Murph, we’ll take a look at how Mother’s Day is celebrated in Murph’s household.

Legend has it that the Murphy men carry a genetic abnormality that allows them to produce Super Sperm, the rare ability to generate offspring which have near-superhuman abilities, such as veteran-like plate discipline.  As a result, the Murphy’s decided to celebrate Mother’s Day as a pre-Father’s Day upon the birth of young Daniel Murphy in 1985.  While the traditional June date for Father’s Day was relegated to the usual ties and coffee mugs, Mother’s Day was now reserved for commemorating the day the Murphy mens’ Super Sperm spawned a future Hall of Famer.

Realizing the fame and fortune that the young Murph would bring to the family, the Murphy’s wasted no time in signing him up for various sports and activities.  While Mister Miyagi needed two chopsticks to pick flies out of the air, Murph was able to do it with just one by sharpening the end of it with his teeth and impaling the unsuspecting bug – at the age of three.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and Daniel Murphy is poised to make his mark in the Major Leagues. Russell Athletic has already had to develop a specialized custom athletic supporter for Murph, not unlike the concept or purpose of the container Vittoria Vetra and her father created out of necessity to contain their anti-matter in Dan Brown’s ‘Angels & Demons’ – that is, even a tiny amount released would have dire consequences. 

For now, the Murphy family is content with their son in the bigs, even while stars such as Oprah have requested samples from the fruit of the Murphy loin for developing their own progeny – not that Murph would hit that.  The only thing he’s hitting right now are 9 oz. horsehide balls with his wood. 

Editors Note:  Mario went to the Mets game yesterday while his mother was celebrating with the rest of the family

The rules need to be re-written for Daniel Murphy.  Murph’s rookie eligibility vanished with a pinch-hit strikeout on the last day of the 2008 season, pushing his at-bat total to 131, or just one more AB over the limit for rookie eligibility.  It’s a shame, too, as Murph’s worst season during his surefire Hall of Fame career will happen to be his rookie year.  But being the man he is, Murphy won’t cry about it.

That’d be so un-Murph.

Just look at what Murph’s been able to do so far in 2009, hitting primarily in the 2-hole as a not-so-everyday Left Fielder:

In 75 ABs, he’s scored  15 runs, slammed three home runs, knocked in 17 RBI, and even legged out two doubles and a triple on his way to a .313/.376/.493 while appearing in 22 games.

Mind you, he hasn’t started every game, but has pinch-hit when hasn’t.  (The sole exception was the April 18th game, in which he made no appearance.  Sources say that Johan took a page out of Gladiator and, before the game, tied Murphy up by his arms in the dark recesses of the training room and shanked him in the ribs while mockingly embracing him – all as payback for the costly “Oh Murph” moment in Florida the week prior.)

Extrapolating these numbers over a conservative estimate of 600 ABs, Murph’s due for:

120 runs, 16 doubles, 8 triples, 21 homeruns, 88 RBI, and even 8 for 8 on  stolen base attemps to keep the Robby Hammocks of the world honest.  (Robby Hammock caught stealing 2 out of 13 attempts in 2008.  When’s the last time YOU caught a major leaguer stealing a base?).

It’s pretty safe to say that if Murph got just one less AB in 2008, his projected 2009 figures would’ve made him a lock for the NL ROY award.  Take it one step further and assume Murph really IS the full-time starting LFer for the Mets and tack on another 50 ABs or so – that’s another 9% increase in production! I’d like to see Jordan Schaeffer or one of Florida’s 37 rookies match that.

So where does Murph go from here?  Well, where else but up?  Murph only turned 24 at the start of the season, so let’s assume he plays until he’s 45 years old, and project a compounded 10% increase in offensive production each year.  That gives us another 21 Murphtastic years of HOF-caliber production.  Just doing the math alone makes your head swim.  How many players by the age of 30 are scoring over 200 runs a season?  In 2015, we’ll know one of them is Danny Murphy.  In fact, even his current lifetime fielding percentage of .957 will eventually improve to be OVER 1.000 – that is, his play will be so flawless that it actually negates his teammates’ errors.

Fast forward to Cooperstown, NY in the year 2035.  Murph will be preparing his induction speech, the curators of the Hall of Fame will be deciding in which order to display the unprecedented three separate Daniel Murphy plaques – one each for the three different Mets caps – Citi Field groundskeepers will be adjusting his retired #28 high up on the left field wall, the Commissioners office will be finalizing the fine print on the new rookie eligibility rule of 131 ABs, and his wife Julie Alexandria Murphy will be expecting their 14th child.  At the induction ceremony, Murph will make a joke about that dropped ball in Florida many years ago, about how he’s settled into his role of Vice President of OhMurph Inc., but what he WON’T do is cry….

That’d be so un-Murph.

Oh, Murph.

That’s the expression the young Daniel Murphy elicits from the Mets faithful with every botched liner, every tumbling dive, every shot put throw back to the infield.

But as any Murphaholic will tell you, “Oh Murph” is uttered with a tone of understanding and forgiveness – the same reaction that, say, Claire Huxtable had when she found a kitchen covered in grape juice after Rudy got hold of Cliff Huxtable’s brand new juicer.  Rude was simply a youngin’ learning to navigate this wacky world, not unlike Murph.

Rudy was in over her head, much like Danny Baseball is perhaps in over his out there in left field. But Murph is essentially a rookie, one who spent one day in Triple-A before being thrust into a pennant race.  Less than a year removed from being a little-known infield prospect, he was christened the starting left fielder and 2-hole hitter for a contender, playing in a new stadium with an unfamiliar outfield in the country’s biggest media market.  It’d be like the Huxtables adopting Rudy and expecting her not only do her chores, but to whip up dinner while she’s at it.

Clearly, no team with postseason aspirations would let a pseudo-rook learn on the job unless he made up for it somewhere else. Murph’s eye at the plate and gap-to-gap stroke has prompted coaches, scouts, and broadcasters to gush with no shortage of compliments and even comparisons to other grinders (Pete Rose, Frank Thomas, Don Mattingly, Captain C.B. Sullenberger, Jesus).  Aside from the superlatives, one thing does remain clear – Murph lives and breathes hitting and the results in his young career attest to the work he puts into that half of his game.  It’s the other half of his game that remains under scrutiny by fans and critics alike.

But Murph’s already-legendary work ethic is well documented, and as Jerry Manuel indicated he will only improve when he acclimates himself to the position and “breathes out there.”  Dodgers fans will tell you they’re only more than happy to overlook Manny’s comical impression of a left fielder because of the production at the plate, as well as some of the intangibles he provides.  Murph’s obviously no Manny, but he adds a dimension of intensity and grittiness to a tainted Mets team that goes beyond what he does on the field.

We, as a community of Mets and Daniel Murphy fans, offer nothing but positive support for Murph, the type of player fans wish the Mets developed more often.  Every uttered “Oh Murph!” will just as soon be followed with a “MURPH!!” the next time he comes through at the plate or makes a sliding catch at the foul line.

Daniel Murphy, meet your Murphaholics