Daniel Murphy in red is just weird

The sight of Daniel Murphy in a Washington Nationals uniform just doesn’t make sense. The eyes see it but it somehow doesn’t register properly in the brain, like a hotdog with ketchup or a Prius with a spoiler. Yet there he was yesterday, one of our favorite players of the last decade, suited up for the enemy. Still #20, still smiling and gracious and hustling around the field, but in an ugly red hat with a W on it.

The 2014 All-Star and 2015 NLCS MVP was no ordinary Met. He grew on us like a family dog that chewed up the furniture as a puppy but grew into a loyal, lovable companion, who still occasionally peed on the rug, but we loved him just the same. Maybe more so, because he was uniquely and unequivocally ours. Then he ran away.

Drafted in the 13^th round by the Mets in 2006 out of Jacksonville University, Murphy was a bat with no definitive position in the field. When asked what position he played when he first arrived to rookie league play, Murphy famously said, “I bat third.”

At age 21 the lefty with the smooth swing worked his way through Kingsport, Brooklyn and GCL St. Lucie. At 22, he played his first season of A ball with St. Lucie, followed by Hawaii winter baseball. He hit .283 with 15 homers, 43 doubles and 99 RBI. He began the next season at AA Binghamton, was promoted to AAA New Orleans (remember the Zephyrs?) and then finished off with a stint in the Arizona Fall League. All told, he finished the season with an impressive slash line .326/.397/.511 that also included his first 49 games with the big league team, as an outfielder. He didn’t disappoint, hitting .313 as a 23 year old, though his work in left field had the announcers and fans shaking their heads.

Murphy played his first full season with the Mets in 2009, primarily as a first baseman. He made 10 errors, but seemed to improve as the season went on and even made some highlight plays over the summer. He also played 29 ugly games in left field, where he would never return, save two innings in 2011. His bat was a little disappointing for a corner infielder, hitting just .266, but 54 of his 135 hits were for extra bases. Murphy missed most of 2010 following a gruesome knee injury suffered in the field, but he returned with a vengeance in 2011, hitting .320 with a .362 OBP.  During his season away, Murphy got Wally Pipped by Ike Davis, so he split the 2011 season playing second and third, as well as first.

In 2012, when Ike Davis seemed to cement his place as the Mets’ first baseman, Murphy found his new home at second base. He played most of his games the next four seasons at the keystone, except for a stint filling in for David Wright at third last season and some occasional work at first filling in for Lucas Duda. From 2012 through 2015, Murphy was a model of consistency, seemingly hitting .290 with 40 doubles each year. His low strikeout, high contact rate made him a great number two hitter, able to advance runners and drive them in with timely doubles. While not the fastest guy, Murphy hustled his way into some stolen bases along the way.

He was versatile, a solid hitter and a great teammate with an infectious enthusiasm. The way Murphy hustled down the baseline, Ron Darling used to say, “he plays like his hair’s on fire.”  But Murphy’s best attribute was hitting in the clutch. While the back of Wright’s baseball card would always look more impressive at the end of the season, it seemed to be Murphy more often than the captain or anyone else who got that big clutch hit in a tie game or extra innings.

Murphy was far from a flawless player. His errors in the field cost us games, as did some boneheaded base running mistakes. But, like that lovable family dog, he was ours. He came up through our system, ingratiated himself to us with his big smile and dirt stained uniform.

Last offseason cemented Murphy’s place as a fan favorite with an epic performance in the NLDS and NLCS that included inconceivable homeruns against seemingly all of the league’s best pitchers. He carried us on our storied run to the World Series and we cherished him. And now, the family dog has run off to live with another family; and not just any family, but the one with the bully kid and the Sunday morning leaf blower. Seeing him in their yard is hard to get our heads around, but once we do, we’ll know we can never again play ball with him.

On paper, it made perfect sense to move on from the Murphy era. Neil Walker is a natural second baseman, switch hitter and seasoned veteran with a comparable bat and only one year left on his contract, leaving the door open for young Dilson Herrera to take over next year. The lineup has enough bats, especially lefties, to score runs without Murphy. But what about the intangibles? Who replaces that passion and the clutch hits? In some ways, Murphy leaving feels like Ray Knight before the 1987 season. Sure we had Howard Johnson, younger and more powerful, but we lost a spark when Knight left. Maybe we can get on just fine without him, but it feels like we lost more than just a player this time.

*head shake* He’s a National now. The heck with him. Let’s see him try to hit a double off our guys. Let’s go Mets!