Royals aware, unintimidated by Mets slugger Daniel Murphy’s record-breaking power surge

For nearly a century, epic feats of home-run prowess in big-league baseball have been described as Ruthian, but Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy’s performance this postseason threatens that cherished lexicon.

Murphy’s six straight games with a home run this October can only be described as Murphian, because he’s the only player in playoff history to achieve it.

Murphy’s exploits, which include seven home runs in the Mets’ nine postseason games, certainly have gained the attention of his peers.

“You look at it every night and wonder if he’s hit a home run or not,” Royals left fielder Alex Gordon said. “After the game, when we find out he’s hit another home run, we’re just like, ‘Are you serious?’ But once you get on a roll, sometimes you don’t know what to say. It’s just you’re swinging the bat well, you’re not missing pitches, and I think that’s what he’s doing right now.”

Murphy, who surpassed Carlos Beltran’s five straight games with a home run in the 2004 postseason, had hit home runs in back-to-back games once in a seven-year career before the playoffs — May 1-2, 2009, against Phillies starters Chan Ho Park and Jamie Moyer.

Murphy isn’t overthinking the record-breaking streak.

“I’m just trying to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard,” Murphy said.

Murphy is the first Mets player to homer in six straight games, regular season or postseason, and he tied Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig with a hit, RBI and run scored in seven consecutive postseason games.

It’s the list of pitchers he’s taken deep — including Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw (twice), former Royals ace Zack Greinke, Cubs lefty Jon Lester and Cubs ace Jake Arrieta — that makes the streak even more impressive.

Arrieta led baseball in fewest home runs allowed per nine innings during the regular season, while Greinke, Kershaw and Lester all ranked in the top 15 among qualified pitchers.

Despite the monster numbers and historic feats, Murphy isn’t mulling postseason achievements just yet.

“Not particularly, because we’ve still got baseball to play,” he said.

Rest assured, the Royals are aware of Murphy’s scorching streak at the plate.

“You’ve got to know that,” reliever Luke Hochevar said. “You take that into account, but, more than anything, you watch the video and look at it to see where he’s hitting balls and try to figure out his approach. Then, you go from there. But if a guy’s seeing the ball that good during a series, you have to know that, for sure.”

The Royals polished off a Toronto Blue Jays team in the America League Championship Series that led the majors with 232 home runs.

“We’re not going to dance around (Murphy),” Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “We’re going to go right at him with the game plan we have in place and whatever the pitcher brought to the table that day. … It’s my strength against your strength, ‘Let’s go, big boy; let’s see who wins this battle.’ ”

Eiland conceded there may be a time when discretion is the better part of valor with Murphy, but he noted that the Royals might also opt to pitch around Yoenis Cespedes, David Wright or Lucas Duda in certain situations, too.

“It’s hard to believe, but I’m sure (Murphy) bleeds just like the rest of us,” Eiland said. “This guy has been the hottest hitter in the recent history of the postseason, but he’s a human being just like the rest of us, albeit he’s had a helluva postseason.”

The Royals simply need to Murphy approach with caution.

Studying Murphy’s postseason at-bats during the last three days, Eiland said: “It has been pretty impressive. Any sort of mistake a pitcher made, he didn’t miss it. And even some good pitches they made, he didn’t miss those either … but we feel like we can get him out, and we have to feel that way.”

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Royals aware, unintimidated by Mets slugger Daniel Murphy’s record-breaking power surge."