Dale Murphy’s Bat Showing Some Signs of Life

For years, Dale Murphy, a two-time National League MVP, was about all the Atlanta Braves had going for them. Not anymore.

The Atlanta organization is stocked with promising young pitchers, a number of starters are hitting in the .300 range and the Braves are battling for first place in the National League West.

All this and Murphy’s bat has been mostly invisible. His spring training was horrible and he began the season the same way -- 3 for 27 in his first eight games.

Through 15 games, he was at .136 with just five RBI. “And it wasn’t like I didn’t have chances,” Murphy said before Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to the New York Mets. “The guys in front of me are all hitting over .300.”

Things got so bad that last Wednesday, when a stray dog was brought into the Braves’ clubhouse and Murphy decided to take it home, his wife, Nancy, suggested they call the dog “Slumper.” Always the optimist, Murphy opted for “Candy.”

Before striking out three times against the Mets Tuesday night, the career .274 hitter gave strong indications that he was breaking out of the worst and longest drought of his career. But as unwelcome as Murphy’s slump has been, it has shown the Braves they can at least tread water without their franchise player. “We won a lot of games without him getting hits at all,” Manager Russ Nixon said. “It makes it a lot easier when he does -- as witnessed Sunday.”

On that day, Murphy went 4 for 5, driving in six runs as the Braves defeated the San Diego Padres, 9-4. In the four-game series against San Diego, Murphy broke out, going 8 for 17 with three home runs and 10 RBI. “I’ve always been kind of streaky,” said Murphy, who is unconvinced this is the end of his troubles. “For me, it’s not all of a sudden and it’s over with. It’s a day-to-day thing I have to work on. I don’t feel I have a swing that’s always there.”

Until this winter, everyone figured the 33-year-old would forever be a Brave. But after his sub-Murphy season in 1988 -- .226, 24 homers, 77 RBI -- his name was bandied about in trade talks with the Mets, the Padres and the Houston Astros.

“It really hasn’t been a big hassle or a big problem,” Murphy said of the trade talk. “It has stopped. All I’ve told the Braves is, if something comes up that they feel is beneficial to me, I’d look at it. Every player in the game realizes he may not be on the same team forever.”

All talk of moving Murphy was stopped by the slump. Midway through it, Nixon decided to move him out of the cleanup spot. But unlike some other managers, he moved his heavy hitter up to the No. 2 spot, not down, for more at-bats and less pressure.

“That was when he was going really badly and we wanted to get his mind off being in the cleanup spot and let him stop worrying about driving in runs and just loosen up,” Nixon said. “He’s worked extremely hard at it.”

“Russ has shown great patience with me,” Murphy said. “But I don’t think anyone owes me anything.”

Murphy took extra batting practice and worked with batting coach Clarence Jones. “I felt he was letting the ball get too close to him,” Jones said. “He was waiting too long for the ball. I think he’s out of it now.”

After the hitting spree against the Padres, Murphy is a month ahead of his 1988 RBI pace of 77. He is hitting .200 (16 for 80) with four homers and 15 RBI.

But for almost three weeks, the Braves were carrying Murphy and not vice versa. “It’s been frustrating, but it helps when you’re not doing exactly what you want to be doing and the team’s winning anyway,” he said. “It means there are 24 guys on this team who can play. It doesn’t matter how good one person does.”