May 28, 2009, Washington Nationals-New York Mets game story for Metro (NY) Newspaper
Murphy has career night to back Santana
MLB.
Even more than Jose Reyes and David Wright, Johan Santana is the Mets’ Alpha and their Omega -- the person around whom everything in the organization revolves. About twice a week, when Santana takes the mound, the Mets are among the league's premier franchises.
On the very short list of baseball’s best starting pitchers, the left-hander projects an aura of confidence that radiates throughout the clubhouse. Through most of his tenure with the Mets, though, that confidence has not often repaid in run support for their ace.
But that failing may slowly be changing. Including last night’s 7-4 win against the Nationals, the Mets have scored 21 runs in his last three starts.
Santana (7-2) alternated between brilliant and dreadful in the series finale against the worst team in the sport. In six innings, Santana struck out 11 -- the fourth time this season he reached double-digits -- but also walked six and gave up three runs on three hits. All three runs came in the fourth inning, two on a mammoth homer by Adam Dunn and the other on a bases loaded walk to Christian Guzman.
“It was crazy. It was the weirdest game ever. I was trying to make my pitches,” Santana said. “I felt good. I was throwing my pitches. I was hitting my spots. (There were) some missed calls by (home plate) ump (Sam Holbrook); things you can’t control, but I was trying to show consistency in throwing my pitches inside of the plate.
"We weren’t getting those calls and all of a sudden it becomes a mess. I’ve never seen a game like this.”
Jerry Manuel disagreed with his ace’s assessment of Holbrook’s strike zone.
“I think we were probably a little too much off the plate," Manuel said. "From our (vantage point), they always look like strikes, but we were a little bit off the plate tonight. The umpire, from (our) viewing the tapes, was right most of the time. Those were not strikes."
All seven of the Mets’ runs came from the bats of Gary Sheffield and Daniel Murphy, which is odd yet fitting. Fitting as both are in the lineup because of their bats. Odd in the sense that while Sheffield has had a fantastic month (.345, 21 hits, three doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs, 19 runs and 16 walks), Murphy’s been dreadful before last night (.155, five RBI, nine walks, no home runs).
Sheffield ripped a two-RBI double to right center in the bottom of the first off of Jordan Zimmermann (2-2) that scored Luis Castillo and David Wright. On top of giving the Mets a 2-0 lead, it tied him with Tony Perez for 25th all-time with 1,652.
Starting at first base as Manuel platoons players until Carlos Delgado returns from hip surgery, Murphy had a career-high five RBI and tied his career high with three hits. He added to the Mets’ lead in the third with a two-out RBI in the third. In the sixth, Murphy crushed a two-run homer to right—Sheffield had lead off the inning with a walk—that had to be reviewed.
Murphy hammered a 1-2 pitch off Zimmermann that hit the Subway sign in right. The ball ricocheted off the sign and then off of the Modell’s sign. Dunn retrieved the ball and fired it to Ronnie Belliard, who relayed a throw to Wil Nieves. Nieves forced Sheffield to try to go around him and tagged out the Mets’ left fielder.
After a six minute review, replay confirmed that the ball did hit the Subway sign and was a home run.
“I thought from the reaction of the right fielder it was a home run. I wasn’t really sure when it came back in play whether or not it was. So I immediately asked them because that yellow sign could have possibly been hit,” said Manuel.
“It was a homer,” Murphy said emphatically when asked what he was thinking about during the review.
Murphy concluded his offensive explosion by doubling off the left field wall, which scored Angel
Pagan (who started in centerfield for Carlos Beltran, who sat out for the second day in a row with a bruised knee and an inflamed tibia) and Castillo.
3 Things we saw last night:
1 Career night. Daniel Murphy has a pretty simple philosophy as it pertains to playing time. “Just show up and look at the lineup. If I’m in there, that’s where I’m at,” the left fielder-first baseman said prior to last night’s game. The primary reason Jerry Manuel pencils him into the lineup is for his bat, which finally made an appearance last night. Murphy had been MIA in May (.155 average with five RBIs and nine walks), but he unloaded for a career-high five RBIs, including the go-ahead two-run bomb in the sixth inning. With the win, Murphy and the Mets jumped ahead of the Phillies for first place in the NL East.
2 What a bargain. The Mets signed Gary Sheffield for a measly $400,000 in the offseason. The Mets probably wouldn’t be riding a 17-8 record this month without the veteran. Sheffield put the Mets up 2-0 in the first with a double and is hitting .345 with four homers and 15 RBIs this month.
3 Almost something special. Johan Santana now leads the National League in wins (picked up his seventh last night) and strikeouts (86) and is second in ERA (1.77). In six innings, Santana struck out 11 and had a shot at Tom Seaver’s single game strikeout record if he hadn’t struggled in the third.
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 3:09 PM
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