When someone from the Mets' front office says that Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans eat, sleep and drink baseball, that's not really an exaggeration. The two live in a hotel about a one-hop throw from Shea Stadium, usually discuss that day's game over lunch in the lobby and only seem to emerge from the indoor batting cages in time for outfield practice with coach Ken Oberkfell.
That's a little different from the lifestyles of most of their teammates, who either have a penthouse in Manhattan or a mansion in Greenwich and roll to Queens in an SUV bigger than the rookie's hotel room. With Murphy and Evans, however, you get the sense they'd live in a tent in the player's lot if it meant waking up another day in the major leagues.
Even then, the two would probably share the tent. Murphy and Evans were roommates during their days together at Double-A Binghamton - both at home and on the road - but the Mets generously put them up in separate living quarters in Flushing. It's unclear if they have unobstructed views of the Unisphere, but the two could not be in a better situation: thrust into the middle of a playoff race.
That's something neither David Wright nor Jose Reyes was forced to deal with in their rookie seasons with the Mets. But Murphy and Evans have excelled despite that additional pressure, which is a reflection of their mental strength as well as physical talents.
"These guys have done a phenomenal job," Wright said. "Unfortunately, young guys have to learn at this level and that's what they're doing right now. It's not easy."
Mix in the fact that both Murphy and Evans are essentially playing out of position - they started out as corner infielders - and that only increases the degree of difficulty. It helps that they have each other to get through the experience, and most of the time, they're just tag-teaming the leftfield duties as part of a platoon that manager Jerry Manuel plans to use for the remainder of the season.
"We're pretty good friends," Murphy said. "We'll talk about what he did in the game, what I did in the game, the at-bats, the pitches."
That buddy system has been working out better than anyone could have anticipated. Murphy, the lefthanded side of the platoon, was batting .404 (19-for-47) through Wednesday and had reached base safely in 18 of his first 19 games. Evans, who has logged 31 games in two separate stints, was hitting .276 (21-for-76) and already has as many doubles (eight) as Damion Easley in almost 200 fewer at-bats.
Before this season, Murphy and Evans never played in stadiums with three decks, stuffed with more than 50,000 screaming fans. Every road trip means another unfamiliar ballpark, with its own unique challenges. Not that the two converted infielders need any more obstacles.
Manuel is willing to take the chance on the two converted infielders because of the payoff at the plate. Murphy was batting .386 (17-for-44) against righthanded pitchers through Wednesday and Evans was hitting .362 (17-for-47) against lefthanders.
Murphy began working out at second base this year to make himself more versatile at the major-league level, but he's nowhere near ready to play that position for the Mets. Depending what the Mets decide to do with Carlos Delgado's option for 2009, both Murphy and Evans could be in the mix for some playing time at first base, as well as the outfield again.
Source:Newsday
Original Story:
http://ddmetsfanblog.blogspot.com/200...
That's a little different from the lifestyles of most of their teammates, who either have a penthouse in Manhattan or a mansion in Greenwich and roll to Queens in an SUV bigger than the rookie's hotel room. With Murphy and Evans, however, you get the sense they'd live in a tent in the player's lot if it meant waking up another day in the major leagues.
Even then, the two would probably share the tent. Murphy and Evans were roommates during their days together at Double-A Binghamton - both at home and on the road - but the Mets generously put them up in separate living quarters in Flushing. It's unclear if they have unobstructed views of the Unisphere, but the two could not be in a better situation: thrust into the middle of a playoff race.
That's something neither David Wright nor Jose Reyes was forced to deal with in their rookie seasons with the Mets. But Murphy and Evans have excelled despite that additional pressure, which is a reflection of their mental strength as well as physical talents.
"These guys have done a phenomenal job," Wright said. "Unfortunately, young guys have to learn at this level and that's what they're doing right now. It's not easy."
Mix in the fact that both Murphy and Evans are essentially playing out of position - they started out as corner infielders - and that only increases the degree of difficulty. It helps that they have each other to get through the experience, and most of the time, they're just tag-teaming the leftfield duties as part of a platoon that manager Jerry Manuel plans to use for the remainder of the season.
"We're pretty good friends," Murphy said. "We'll talk about what he did in the game, what I did in the game, the at-bats, the pitches."
That buddy system has been working out better than anyone could have anticipated. Murphy, the lefthanded side of the platoon, was batting .404 (19-for-47) through Wednesday and had reached base safely in 18 of his first 19 games. Evans, who has logged 31 games in two separate stints, was hitting .276 (21-for-76) and already has as many doubles (eight) as Damion Easley in almost 200 fewer at-bats.
Before this season, Murphy and Evans never played in stadiums with three decks, stuffed with more than 50,000 screaming fans. Every road trip means another unfamiliar ballpark, with its own unique challenges. Not that the two converted infielders need any more obstacles.
Manuel is willing to take the chance on the two converted infielders because of the payoff at the plate. Murphy was batting .386 (17-for-44) against righthanded pitchers through Wednesday and Evans was hitting .362 (17-for-47) against lefthanders.
Murphy began working out at second base this year to make himself more versatile at the major-league level, but he's nowhere near ready to play that position for the Mets. Depending what the Mets decide to do with Carlos Delgado's option for 2009, both Murphy and Evans could be in the mix for some playing time at first base, as well as the outfield again.
Source:Newsday
Original Story:
http://ddmetsfanblog.blogspot.com/200...
