National League Roundup : Murphy, Coming On, Has Homer, Six RBIs

After Dale Murphy had a season-long slump in 1988, the Atlanta Braves decided to get rid of their star slugger in order to further their plans to rebuild with youngsters.

There were no takers. For one thing, his salary was in seven figures. Most hitters aren’t through at 33, but the Braves, according to baseball’s general managers, were asking too much for Murphy.

The Braves were stuck with him. The way Murphy started the season, the general managers were nodding their heads. In his first 13 games, Murphy was only 6 for 52, had hit one home run and driven in two runs. He was hitting .115 and picking up where he left off last season.

In his only poor season after several of outstanding years, Murphy batted .226, hit “only” 24 home runs and drove in 77 runs. In addition, he often looked bad at the plate.

Suddenly, last week, Murphy started swinging the bat the way he did when he was the scourge of National League pitchers.

Sunday at Atlanta, the big right-handed hitter brought back memories of his greatness.

Murphy had four hits, including a home run, and drove in six runs to lead the Braves to a 9-4 victory over the San Diego Padres.

It could have been a really memorable comeback, but Murphy, overeager in the third inning with the bases loaded, popped up on Dennis Rasmussen’s hanging curve.

In his last five games, Murphy is nine for 20, has hit two home runs and driven in 11 runs. Who’s sorry now?

“It was pretty frustrating,” Murphy said. “It always feels good to help the cause. It is doing wonders for my confidence, too. I’ve felt better the last week or so. I’ve been making some good swings.”

Houston 5, Cincinnati 2--In 1988, his first season in the National League, Cincinnati’s Danny Jackson had a Cy Young Award season, posting a 23-8 record. He didn’t win the honor because of Orel Hershiser.

Also, he couldn’t beat the Astros. Now, the talented left-hander is off to a slow start, mainly because of the Astros.

Jackson (1-4) gave up nine hits and four earned runs in seven innings to lose his fourth in a row, two to the Astros. In four games against Houston he has an earned-run average of 8.59.

“The guys don’t mind facing him,” new Houston Manager Art Howe said. “He has great stuff, but our guys, for some reason, see him well.”

In his fourth start, the Astros’ talented left-hander, Bob Knepper, finally won after three defeats. Knepper gave up four hits in 6 1/3 innings.

A misplay by left fielder Kal Daniels compounded Jackson’s problems. Daniels broke back on a fly ball hit by Bill Doran with two out in the third, slipped and fell and it went for a double. Then Glenn Davis hit a two-run home run.

New York 4, Chicago 2--Kevin McReynolds and Gary Carter, both off to poor starts this season, delivered late-inning home runs at New York to help the Mets pull this one out.

With the Cubs leading 2-1, relief pitcher Calvin Schiraldi walked leadoff batter Tim Teufel in the eighth inning. McReynolds hit his second homers of the season to put the Mets ahead. Carter followed with his first.

Andre Dawson hit the 300th home run of his career, a 400-foot blast, in the seventh to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

Montreal 9, St. Louis 3--The Expos, who collected just 12 hits while losing the first three games of this series at St. Louis, had 15 hits in this one.

Spike Owen, a light-hitting infielder who was batting just .175, led the assault on Cardinal starter Cris Carpenter and four successors. Owen had a triple, double and two singles, scored a run and drove in three.

Carpenter started because the Joe Magrane, Danny Cox and Greg Mathews are on the injured list.

“If we’d just been able to sign Nolan Ryan, we would have stopped the Expos all four games,” said Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog.

Pittsburgh 6, Philadelphia 4--Bobby Bonilla’s first home run of the season, a two-run smash in the eighth at Pittsburgh, capped the Pirates’ rally from a four-run deficit.

The Phillies had built a 4-0 lead, all runs coming in as a result of errors, before the Pirates scored three times in the sixth and three more in the eighth to win it.