Murphy and Church Trying to Make Manuel Forget about Sheffield..

Now that the Mets are 2-1, there have been some positives looking at the offense. Daniel Murphy has been a hitting and continues to impress me in the number two hole in the lineup. Ryan Church has gotten off  to a fast start and looks poised to have a good season.....

Murphy has been a perfect cog in the Mets lineup doing his job by  taking pitches and letting Reyes try to steal a base when he is on. He is currently hitting .286 which includes a homer, that he hit on opening night. Murphy had a great spring, where he batted .345 with 16 RBI's in 87 ABs. He is not a joke, this kid can play..

Not only has his hitting  been his only asset, he has been contributing on defense with some nice sliding and charging catches in left field.. Murphy has sneaky speed , which you can say is Kevin McReynolds like.  He can't go back on a ball that well, but will get better as he plays more out there.. Remember he is a converted third basemen.


Some other instances for loving Daniel's play of  late is watching him on the bases. He looks like he can run the bases with some decent speed...He is very heads up and seems very well schooled in this area... A example of  this was seeing him going first to third on a D.Wright's jam shot down the line today where he looked back and read where the ball was going and made the decision to head to third. It was flawless!

His base running reminds me of Wally Backman, but his batting reminds me of Dave Magadan.

I know Jerry made his mind up early saying Murphy will play everyday and now we are finally starting to see why.. It makes it hard for Jerry to even think about Gary Sheffield..

Another case to keep Sheff on the bench, is the play of Ryan Church.. Church in the first series of the year is batting a team leading .455 with 3 doubles and 2 RBI's..  It is almost like Church has said, "this is my job!, Sheffield who?".

Church's play was missed last year when he was down with an injury (concussion) and he seems confident to make last year no fluke..

Church batted .276 with 12 HRs and 46 RBI's in 2008. He only had 319 At bats...Can you imagine if he finished the season with 550 ABs?... He could of been closer to 25-30 HRs... 

His play in the field has also looked good like when he cut down a runner going back to first base on a fly ball in game 1.. He is really underrated when it comes down to his defense...He makes Bobby Abreu look like a clown..

I have became a Daniel Murphy fan and I can't wait to get my number 28 jersey. Church has always been a favorite of mine. Sheffield will give both of these guys a breather when needed, but you can't deny that both these guys will make it hard for Sheffield to get his At Bats....

I hope both continue to play the way they have shown because the lineup will not only benefit having them in there, but it will prove positive the defense will also be better off as well..