NY Mets 2014

[sonny10305]

For the most part I think our young pitchers have been gettin it done. Wheeler has been improving although I have to wonder if he will reach the high expectations the Mets have for him; his stuff is great but still his command comes and goes he needs to fix that cause while his stuff is similar to Harvey’s that command is troubling I happen to know as well that Zack is confounded by why he is so good one night and no so good the next, I think he has to be able to read swings on the mound and of course make the adjustments to what he batters are doing and I don’t see Zack doing that yet. deGrom shows great presence on the mound ya have to like the way he carries himself he just oozes with confidence don’t ya think? He is on the mound today and we have a pitcher who can hit the ball as well that kid can bring it, his ERA now at 1.83 And when you talk about presence you have to think of what Mejia has done in his new role, he was not happy moving to the pen but quickly embraced it and has been doing a better than decent job for us. I mean when is the last time we had a closer that we could depend on at least it seems he is going to be a very decent in that role for us. We knew he had good stuff just that he crapped out after about 5 innings but now as a closer he can give us if we need it 2 great innings I have to think maybe instead of a starter this role is where he should have been from the beginning he's just got that great closing mentality. Montero worries me a bit although he has shown promise and I like his ability to get the strikeouts on the corners down in the zone where it has been effective but too often he is down a bit that is when he gets hit the other problem is his pitch count which has to come down. We have not yet seen the real Montero and what he can bring and maybe the clock is ticking I would not be surprise if we see the last of him for a while very soon. It will be interesting to see what changes the Mets make with Buddy Carlyle getting the call perhaps Montero will go. Now I that is the case then ya have to expect Matsuzaka would be in the rotation till Dillon Gee returns from the DL. Montero has a 5.40 ERA and 11 walks and has given up five homers in 20 innings over four starts; he only went 3⅔ innings in his fourth start. The pen which has gotten stronger now with Farnsworth and Valerdie gone; you recall they were supposed to be the veterans who held it together till the young gun were ready but guess what the young guns are ready now so bye bye boys. In the pen Familia is just getting better and better but my favorite is Vic Black, thanks goodness he is getting another shot, I absolutely love his breaking ball. Which takes me to Snydergard you guys are gonna love that kid I can’t wait till he gets here. Noah who is was declared fully healthy last week will rejoin the rotation at AAA next week.

After last night are we ready to officially call Chris Young a failure I mean come on why is he out there night after night when we have much more capable outfielders like Nieuwenhuise, Campbell and den Decker. I am holding out hope for Granderson who came to life a bit but he is inconsistent but I can’t complain when just about all our big bats have ben inconsistent.

Gavin Cecchini, L.J. Mazzilli (Lee’s son) and the 2014 Cyclones start the new season June 13th and our home opener is the next day on the 14th. Mazzilli who played with us last season started the 2014 season with the Savannah Sand Gnats at second base, but has also seen some played some shortstop. Mazzilli has been batting clean-up for the Sand Gnats, and has 5 homeruns and 16 hits in his last 13 games, as of yesterday he is on to an 8 game hit streak. The other night he drove in the winning run in the 12th inning to take the win. I am so pumped to be with my boys again. I am a big Mets fan but for a while now my heart truly is with the Cyclones. I will write about the team here in this thread now and again. Go Cyclones Go Mets and oh yes Go Rangers

 

[sonny10305]

Opps,in rereading my last post I think I may have confused some with my thoughts about the Cyclones Obviously Mazzilli and Cecchini are with the Sand Gnats this year with both of them playing with us in Brooklyn in 2103. I will post a full 2014 Cyclones roster soon.

 

[syam24]

Mets have to go extra innings again, this time "only" 11 before getting the win over the Phil's on Duda's two run shot. Mejia gave one back, but closed the door to nail down the save. Niece pitched masterfully, only giving up Howard's 2 run HR, while going 8 Innings, and giving the bullpen a bit of a break. Mets have taken 3 of the first 4 in the series, let's see if Colon can keep it going on Monday. Let's go Mets!!!

 

[Sausy]

Another series win though we yet again had to go into extra innings as syam mentioned. As long as we win, however they get it done doesn't matter though of course it would be great if everything came together. Good to see DWright doing it Saturday and Lucas Duda coming in late in the game and launching a two run homer to give the Mets the lead and the win.... even better in came with two outs and as frustrating as this year has been for Lucas he has the strength if he keeps within himself to hit a lot of home runs, but he can't press and feel like he has to be the slugger and drive the ball far to be successful. He's a good natural hitter and the power has to come out of that, and he's a big strong kid so he has it... just keep it in the flow of the game, and not try to live out some people's expectations.

Jonathon Niese was tremendous, going eight innings and giving up only two runs and was so efficient he only used 91 pitches which is a remarkable effort and one of the best this season for the Mets who needed to rest the pen... he really took the challenge and met it so well and it's good you can have these games where your starter can get deep into the game without pushing his pitch count and a taxed bullpen can keep fresh for a day.

Touching along some of sonny's comments it's tough to see Rafael Montero have to go back down to AAA Las Vegas after his disappointing stint as a starter here when he had until coming into this season had a reputation of a guy who had all the pitches, maybe not a Harvey-Wheeler-Syndegaard fastball but 92-95 and has all the secondary pitches and most importantly GREAT command. He was a great control pitcher for a guy so young it was amazing but his mechanics are a bit messed up now... not exactly the greatest place to try and find it in Las Vegas but hopefully he can soon. Jacob de Grom has progressed a lot more quickly than expected, he was inconsistent but promising coming into the season after being converted a few years back to a pitcher and having to also deal with going through Tommy John surgery to repair a ligament tear. Love this guy's long hair and cool demeanor on the mound, can get the heater to the mid 90's but has several plus quality pitches and also a good athlete who hits as well as any pitcher can.

Hopefully everything is okay with Noah Syndegaard, you hear forearm strain and all Mets fans hearts sank with the prospect of yet another Tommy John surgery though thankfully the MRI showed no structural damage and his prescribed shoulder exercises hopefully will help as expected to put less pressure on the elbow and decrease the possibility of a real structural problem.

Mejia has really taken to closing and though he gave up a homer to ole Met Marlon Byrd he was able to shake that off and the kid really seems to enjoy the challenge of closing now. Carlyle seems like a solid addition and Vic Black has a world of talent including a terrific heater hopefully he's got the confidence to do what he can do and maybe develop as a reliable set up man for Mejia.


Sonny loves his Brooklyn Cyclones He's been a huge fan since they brought minor league ball in Brooklyn and the past few years he's been working for them and seeing and has gotten to know as friends as well some possible young stars of the Mets future and I know he raved about LJ Mazzilli ... not sure what he thinks yet of Gavin Cecchini, very interested in hearing his perspective on this year's Cyclone roster!

How many times you see a five game series? I do think there are some kinks in the new scheduling system that have to be worked out.Hoping the Mets can keep it going for tonight and as syam says, " Let's go, Mets!"

 

[sonny10305]

Yup Saucy the Cyclones are my passion and this year I have agreed to take on some additional responsibilities which I am really looking forward to. As to Mazilli he played for us last year and is a heck of an athlete I look for him to go far quickly. He is also one terrific kid loaded with personality and wit. One of the fun things about having him on the team was the frequent visits by his Dad, Lee who would not just come to the park to see his son play but would always take time to visit with the players offer advice and encouragement like son like Father you could say. LJ’s has two sisters and one of em, Lacey, is his twin and both of whom along with Mom attended many games as well. My favorite stories to tell about LJ is one day I attended a Mets SNY thing and DWright was also there, I don’t really know David all that well just a few short conversations here and there is all we have ever had but that day David approached me to ask how the Cyclones were doing and in particular he asked about LJ. David is a major supporter of the young and up an coming talent so it was no surprise that he would ask about the Cyclones in fact he had played a rehab game with us a while back and spent a ton of time speaking to the players. The next day when I got to the ballpark in Brooklyn I could not wait to tell LJ about David’s interest in him. “Really, David asked about me”? was LJs reaction and of course a big grin ear to ear. That memory just sticks with me.




We are waiting to hear how Juan Lagares makes out at the doctors today he is getting an MRI on his right ribcage. Juan had leave the game yesterday feeling pain in that rib cage the same thing had bothered him on Saturday as well but felt better later so thought it was no big deal. He may have agitated it running the bases yesterday. So best to Juan we sure hope it is not serious. More as I learn it later

 

[syam24]

I've just heard that Lagares is going on the DL and Matt den Dekkar is on a return to the Mets. Perhaps he'll get some playing time now with Juan out for a bit. Let's go Mets!!!

 

[Sausy]

Really nice perspective sonny about LJ and his dad, and also so nice to hear just how invested and psyched DWright is about good up and coming players who came through Brooklyn like LJ who is really adapting well at St. Lucie hitting over .290 and comes from a great family.

Yep, syam and sonny Lagares is out and Matt den Dekker's demotion back to Las Vegas was scrapped and Mat was back in tonight and really made his presence felt especially defensively with a great catch over the center field wall robbing Ryan Howard of a home run and later throwing out Reid Brignac trying to score on Ben Revere's single with a nice accurate one hop throw to catcher Travis d'Arnaud. Mets won this last game of the epic five game series in Philly and most importantly won four of the five games tonight blowing it open 11-2. David Wright had a two run double and later Curtis Granderson had a two run single and Wilmer Flores, who knocked in two runs in the sixth with a blooper double to right, capped it off with his first major league homer, a grand slam that provided the winning margin and broke the game open late.

Good effort from Bartolo Colon but he was helped immensely by the two great defensive plays by Matt den Dekker.Lagares will be out 15 days but at least defensively the Mets lose nothing with the terrific ballhawk den Dekker in his place ... he even did play a part getting the Mets going offensively by starting their earlier run in the sixth inning getting on with a single and scored on DWright's two run double going one for five. Mets going to Chicago to play the Cubbies for a three game series before they end this crazy road trip going cross country for a weekend series against the San Francisco Giants.

 

[syam24]

Last nite was the kind of win I'd like to see more often, where you don't have to white-knuckle it to the last strike. As Sausy wrote, Den Dekker's superb defense aided Colon in going as long as he did, and the Mets pounded out 6 in the ninth to put it away capped by Flores' grand slam, which added to his earlier two run double gave him 6 RBI for the nite! On to CHi town for the Cubs, lets keep up the hitting and decent pitching, Let's go Mets!!!

 

[sonny10305]

I have to tell you about a wonderful experience Daniel Murphy is about to have. I am sure you recall when his wife the adorable Tori went into labor just before opening day Murph knew exactly where he had to be and that was with his wife and soon to be born son Noah. So he left New York, II should say rushed, to Florida for the birth of his son, even at the cost of missing Opening Day at Citi Field. He is completely comfortable with the decision to miss the Mets’ first two games saying his wife and family needed him and I needed to be there.
Daniel ended up missing the first two games of the season and ya would have thought the end of the world was coming from so many fans and of course my favorite people in the world the Media. some of them were cruel and insensitive towards Murph which he most certainly did not deserve. I wrote about my disgust over that a few times. But something, other than of course Noah’s birth, very good came out of that and that is it brought the spotlight on some of the difficult choices that working fathers are forced to make. As Murph beautifully put it He and Tori leaned on each other and leaned on their faith in the lord and they came out of it stronger and came out of it as a family, Murphy said, breaking into a huge smile. We came out of it with a beautiful son.
Now Daniel has been invited to speak about that experience at the White House, and of course Murph said yes. Daniel, Tori and little Noah will head to Washington on Monday about having his very personal family moment explode in the public eye as part of a day of discussion on working fathers that will lead into a White House Summit on Working Families on June 23. The Murphy family travel directly to Washington from San Francisco after the Mets game there on Sunday.
In true Murphy style he said “It’s an honor and it’s humbling speaking not as a baseball player, but as a dad. When the invite came Daniel and Tori took about 1 second to decide there was not much of choice they were going to do this. I got a huge kick out of what Murph said “my son is only 2 months old and already he is going to The White House, It’s going to be pretty hard to top that.”
Murph will be joined by administration officials who are also working dads and who will share their experiences folks like Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx among others. Daniel will be part of a discussion to explore the roles dads play at home and discuss the challenges they face balancing career and family, and how both businesses and working families benefit from progressive workplace policies. Murphy will stand out since most dads don’t play in stadiums before thousands of people and have their intimate family decisions written about on places like Twitter Facebook or on sports talk radio. Sandy Alderson was one of the people who defended Daniel’s decision to make use of MLB’s paternity leave, saying he was happy for Murphy that he was able to be there for his child’s birth. He pointed out that Daniel had the collectively-bargained right to be there, the players union and MLB agreeing to allow paternity leave in 2001. Players are allowed up to three days away while teams can add a player to the roster in their absence. Those kinds of progressive policies in the workplace are what the White House is hoping to highlight with Murph’s appearance. Oh, and before any of those media fools start yapping about Murph being away again I wanna remind them Monday is an off day for the Mets.

When Justin Turner left the Mets to go to LA one of the things he left behind was the whipped cream pies he threw he was the master of that here in NY. But as JT said he left that in NY they don’t do that in LA, But last week when Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett tossed a no hitter Justin just had to react I mean Justin can’t help himself so the always fun JT did the next best thing and gave Josh a Gatorade during a TV interview.



He is such a fun dude Gosh I miss Justin playin here in NY. But h ha said many times as much as he misses playing in NY he loves it in LA.

 

[Sausy]

Great pic of JT having his usual fun after Josh Beckett's no hitter... unfortunate he can't really do the pie thing after big wins but no doubt he's creative and fun regarding special occasions like this! I'm glad he's in a better situation especially after the whispers among cowardly unnamed Mets organization people about him being selfish and lazy which is just not the JT we saw or that sonny knows!

Terrific and well deserved honor for Daniel Murphy and his family invited to the White House to start off the Conference on Working Families having him speak on the experience... idiotic sports commentators aside he had the support of his teammates, his organization and MLB and it has to be such a thrill to be invited to the White House for this. So happy for the Murphy family and very proud of Daniel for having the right priorities... from what I read Vicki's delivery left her drained and she wasn't going to be able to travel to new York for about a month so Daniel wanted to spend as much time with his wife and baby boy as possible. You only get this time once, and it was only two games missed so why some idiots had to have a conniption about it is beyond me. Thankfully, a lot of other people were impressed by his actions, and with MLB thankfully having a pretty progressive policy on paternity leave Murph wanted to spend as much time as he could before coming back up because most impotantly it would have been awhile before she could travel up to New York so he did the only thing he could do for his new family.


Well, after a scintillating Mets romp through the Phillies at Veterans Stadium winning 4 of 5 topped off by a rare 11 run offensive burst, the Cubbies showed em that you can't rest on your laurels and swept them in the three game series at Wrigley. Wheeler was great on Tuesday but got little help elsewhere, Dice K was flat Wednesday and Jacob de Grom was ordinary for the first time in his first several major league starts and the bullpen of Black/ Edgin/ Mejia faltered after the Mets tied the game at 4 on Andrew Brown's two run homer as Anthony Rizzo homered to break the tie and it broke down against the Mets in the eighth as the Cubbies tacked on two runs off of Mejia. It's so frustrating being a Mets fan... I read yesterday they drafted Michael Conforto from the West Coast, a college player which the Mets have rarely in recent years drafted in the first round. Offensively he's got tons of potential, withpatience and power but I seems he's a prime candidate to have to make the switch from the outfield to first base as he has little speed, a below average arm and really isn't all that good defensively. Unless he's playing first base it's just another flawed outfielder... maybe he's the new Lucas Duda in two or three years who actually hits for average. Other than Kevin Plawecki or Brandon Nimmo there aren't too many other bats they have in the organization I'm all that gung ho about. And Plawecki plays Travis d'Arnaud's position and Nimmo could be very good or could be Jeff Francouer all over again.... one of the most frustrating players ever because he WAS actually good for a couple of years and when the Mets got him a few years back seemed poised to prove the Atlanta Braves wrong to give up on him... but with the new year after a sizzling start fell flat and has never recovered really to being anywhere near the stud outfielder he should have been. Nicest guy, looked like a real athlete out there with solid speed, great arm, power potential but just drove his career in the ditch by poor selectivity. Just so pissed in the MLB draft they go for a position player, which they need... then choose someone who currently projects because of his athletic deficiencies not to be anything more than a complimentary player, a more patient Andrew Brown perhaps unless they can move him to first base and he becomes reasonably competent there.

 

[syam24]

Well, the Cubs series is one to certainly forget. Continued utterly poor hitting with men on base doomed the pitchers to have to be perfect to win. I'm kind of optimistic with the Mets first round pick. If he can hit for power, he can play a corner outfield spot. One mock draft I saw had him projected in the 4 slot, so maybe we get a good player. Saw where Syndagaard injured his left (non throwing) shoulder trying to tag a guy at home following his wild pitch. Haven't heard results of his X-rays. Let's go Mets!!

 

[Sausy]

Just checked out on ESPN News that Noah Syndegaard fortunately got good news on his left(non-throwing) shoulder injury, a sprain of a joint that will require him to rest it for about five days then likely he can resume throwing. Another great article in the New York Post today about Lee and LJ Mazzilli, and how Lee's friendship with Yankee legend and fellow paisano Yogi Berra helped to get LJ out of an early season funk, now he's doing quite well in Port St. Lucie and Mets organization people are really high on him as a player with real offensive skills who can be solid defensively and most importantly as a person.

It's insane the new schedule that MLB has come up with this year as the Mets instead of going on a straight out road trip set of series go from five games in Philly, three games in Chicago(where they couldn't leave soon enough) and now three games in San Francisco of all places!!!!!!!!!!! Well, everyone has to play by that schedule so not really crying but it is idiotic and wasteful.

 

[sonny10305]

I will write more on Murphy’s big day today in Washington with wife Tori (Saucy calls her Vickie) and little Noah. Here is a clip from the Today show in while Murph was in Philly.

Headin to the Rangers game tonight a bunch o Mets are going

 

[Sausy]

Sorry about the misnaming... well it's from the same root name, Victoria? I'll get it right from now on, lol...... very nice pic of the Murphy family and interview with Murph, what an honor to be so spotlighted....and looking forward to the other great stuff you'll be posting soon.

Something good to think about, at least as opposed to the rough weekend... swept by Chicago now swept by San Francisco in some truly frustrating losses, not really in the mood to go over the depressing details. Just one thing or another seems to go wrong... a missed defensive play, bad baserunning, lack of clutch hitting with men on base, starting pitchers being flat, relievers just not holding the fort... so many different things have gone wrong again when the Mets play so well like against the Phillies they just lose all focus and play like horseshit. NL East isn't really even a tough division these days but still we can't get the boys to play inspired ball. Just excuses...a lot of the guys are of course admitting they're letting their teammates down and playing like crap, how about just shut up and go out and play inspired, opportunistic ball like the Giants and hell even the lowly Cubbies did!!!!!!!!!!! How about coming home and making it your playground that you win the bulk of games in, and no back seat whining about how big it plays, how tough it is. For goodness sakes Shea Stadium was no hitters park and our boys have had some truly amazin' games and seasons there before CitiField was built!

Don't want to be nasty or negative, guess some of bad Sausy is coming out here but we see this EVERY year, the culture of mistakes mental as well as physical and the excuses never seem to end. We love our Mets, we just want something better than tis sorry rut.Maybe it will take awhile to become a real contender but the first step is to get respect from our opponents, play the hell out of every game and though mistakes both mental and physical do happen a lot can be done to MINIMIZE them... the lazy throws, the foggy baserunning, indecisiveness. You get to be good even you aren't abundantly overflowing in talent in every department by not beating yourselves and by making your own breaks. San Francisco didn't play especially well for the most part against the Mets but they knew what they were capable of and made the breaks, created the runs, made the plays they needed to win. Would be nice to get respect after the last few years... the Madoff mess made our front office cheap, our management for too long(even under Sandy Alderson) made some bad player moves, an our players have to too large a degree screwed up and we have a culture of negativity, too much tolerance for mistakes, primarily mental... thoughtless, rushed, sometimes truly head scratching. I love our guys and hope you all see the Rangers get back in the Stanley Cup series against LA tonight and rot your hearts out and enjoy the game, but come tomorrow I hope the boys really start looking inwards on doing the best they can to make people proud of the Mets... win or not, they give it their all and bring back the pride we once had and long to again in the orange and blue, in NL baseball in New York.

 

[Thad1527]

Hey, you think YOU have it bad....!

And all the Flyers fans here are wishing we had Jeff Carter back. Apparently he didn't get along with Peter Laviolette. And, a little later...neither did the Flyers, who fired Laviolette at the start of last season! But Laviolette does have a Stanley Cup ring and has been hired by Nashville for next season....

 

[Sausy]

Hey, you think YOU have it bad....!

And all the Flyers fans here are wishing we had Jeff Carter back. Apparently he didn't get along with Peter Laviolette. And, a little later...neither did the Flyers, who fired Laviolette at the start of last season! But Laviolette does have a Stanley Cup ring and has been hired by Nashville for next season....

Hey Thad! Not really into hockey at ALL but my nephews are bummed over the Flyer's playoff flatline(they live in the northern Philly suburbs I think I remember telling you a few months back when you came to New York for the mini meet in April). If Mets fans have any consolation it looks too like the Phillies suck as much if not more and give Philly sports fans nothing positive to take into baseball season after the unfortunate end to the hockey season.

 

[syam24]

At least the Mets didn't lose last nite, it's been nothing but not good hitting, not good enough pitching, and the occasional baserunning blunder at the most inopportune times. It seems to go on and on. Let's hope for a quick rebound. Lets' go Mets!!

 

[sonny10305]

Daniel Murphy’s White House visit could not have gone better he was relaxed amd proud to be there and understood the importance of his role in those meetings. Jay told me that Murph wowed the crowd with his passion on being a father and of course that Murph wit which made him so much fun to listen to.
Daniel spoke at the White House yesterday at the Working Families Summit which is an event that highlighted working fathers. Murph talked about the support he got from his teammates and the coaches which he described as just unbelievable. He also spoke of the support from Terry Collins, the owners and the players on the team just really congratulating him it was a level of support that you hope you don’t need that affirmation when you make a decision like that, but to get it from his teammates and the organization was awesome.
Daniel peppered his speech with a lot of wit which if you know Murph it is his style including the story about the grief from his teammates because he didn't have cigars for them and how he had to whip out his credit card, give it to a clubhouse guy, get 50 cigars out as quickly as possible, that of course happened after he got a lot of support from the team before joking about what he forgot.
Some of the most touching moments in the speech came when Murph talked about his son Noah saying that when Noah asks me one day, What happened, what was it like when I was born? I could have answered Well, Stephen Strasberg hung me a breaking ball that day, son, and I slammed into the right field corner But I think it’s going to go so much further in that I’m the one who cut his umbilical cord. And long after they tell me that I’m not good enough to play professional baseball anymore, I’ll be a father. And I’ll be a husband. So that was a reason, on the front end, that I wanted to be there for my wife and for my son. He will be proud to explain to his son one day about his biggest accomplishment on the first day of the 2014 Major League Baseball season.

Think about what Daniel said “long after they tell me that I’m not good enough to play professional baseball anymore, I’ll be a father. And I’ll be a husband. Come on…how great was that?







It was the topic of conversation last night at the Rangers game with so many wanting to know how Daniel’s speech went. lemme tell ya that kid is loved and respected by so many it just makes my heart sing
I have video but it is still on my phone so when I get a chance I will edit it down and post it. But here is a sample of that Murphy wit

The Rangers played a sorry ass game even though the Rangers had 32 shots on goal; they were unable to connect with the net and got shut out by Los Angeles to lose Game 3 of the Stanley Cup 3-0. But the fans were awesome an I think Matt Harvey ho before the game said “Look, the team is behind and we gotta be here to support them no matter what” And that is what we did cause when Harvey speaks…. well ya know

So how was the game last night Matt?

 

[Sausy]

GREAT day for Murph yesterday in DC.... he handles himself humbly and takes his responsibilities seriously while never taking himself too seriously. Great dry humor and he's that got a great public speaking voice, too.... deep and warm. Saw a clip on TMZ where he told the cigar story and it was so cute,lol... Murph and Tori(see I wrote Tori, sonny!and Noah and Murph's parents at the White House must have been such an awesome day for the Murphy family and they deserved it! Looking forward to the videos sonny puts up later!

I'm not a hockey fan by any stretch but was hoping the guys could see a Ranger victory.... Matt certainly doesn't look too happy here,lol!

 

[sonny10305]

GREAT day for Murph yesterday in DC

Yup and it continued last night. Murphy has been the Mets’ most consistent hitter this season and has shown it in his improvement with his on-base percentage, which he has been trying hard to improve. Murphy has raised his on-base percentage and is now his best since 2011. Part of that comes from his getting more walks which he was hoping to do this year, and he has 80 hits which is the most in the NL. Even during the off season you will find him spending a great deal of his off time improving his game alongside his brother Jonathan. In fact when Daniel was struggling a while back it was Johnathan the noticed how fast he plants his right foot during his at-bats which was a big part of why he had been late. But it was difficult for Murphy to adjust cause as he said when you hit one way for 20 years of your life it’s tough to change it, but he took that back to camp and spoke with then hitting couch Dave Hudgens who agreed that Murphy should speed up the planting of his right foot and now he’s swinging at better pitches which has helped him off to a strong showing since. Actually it’s been a good adjustment and by speeding up the planting of his foot there’s a simple yet effective cause Murphy’s seeing the ball earlier, which if you understand hitting means it allows him to better differentiate between balls and strikes which is huge. Lemme explain what that means, Murph was swinging at like 35 percent of pitches outside of the strike zone now by laying off those pitches, and he’s walking at higher rate. Murphy is such a good hitter he thought sometimes by chasing pitches out of the zone he figured he can still get a hit, but now he has done a better job of not swinging at what we call marginal pitches. But let me get back to teaching an old dog new tricks, fine-tuning his mechanics has taken a lot of practice, and for sure it still a little hit or miss thing is If your feet aren’t planted firmly then your body is moving and you’re late an if you’re late, you have to cheat, soooooo if you get your feet down on time, which gives you an opportunity to see the ball instead of being late. I am tellin you guys Murphy has a good eye which makes him such a good hitter What we are hoping is that if he continues getting on base at his current rate he’s going to have huge numbers.

He is the Irish Hammer he is fun to watch very talented I cannot say enough about how much I admire him.

I had to make this post all about Murphy sometimes when I start talking about him it’s hard to stop.
After his two run homer yesterday when he got back to the bench he gave Bench Coach Bob Geren a playful slap across the face not sure if you guys saw that, there is a back story to that but not my place to tell so let’s just say it’s just Murph being Murph and leave it at that