Murphy Singing A New Tune For Owls

Merrimack – A hand made sign scratched out on notebook paper with a green sharpie stating “Momma said there’d be days like this” hangs with fresh masking tape in the locker of lifetime Merrimack Owl Dale Murphy as he sits in the locker room taping up his bat before taking batting practice. The song lyrics from Sam Cooke have apparently taken special meaning for Murphy after a stellar start to a career in 2003 which earned him the team MVP has eroded into the most strike-out prone player in ASB history, racking up 19 K’s in his last two 12 game seasons.

“In the off season I was driving with my wife and kids down to the lake for some R&R and the song came on the radio… I looked out the window and something just seemed to click… I have a great family and a great team to play for… Why all the pressure? I know that in the game of baseball I am going to have good days and bad ones. I let last year snowball out of control mentally… I let the strikeouts take a toll on what I did in every at-bat. I was trying too hard and not letting the last at-bat be in the past. It really dictated my aggressiveness.”

Since he busted onto the scene in the All-Star Baseball League with the Owls six years ago as a newly minted lifetime player Murphy has always been prone to the strikeout, but with an on-base-percentage that perennially hovered around .500 there was little made of the fact. A horrible start to the season and a .369 OBP in this years KCBL rocked Murphy to the core.

“I knew that I was going to be a big part of that lineup and if I did my job we would be a pretty darn good team. I take full responsibility on not getting the job done. I put Ed (Bailey) and the rest of the organization in a tough spot. I didn’t get the job done.”

A New Hope

“I have seen Murph dominate the league. I think he could be the BEST player in ANY league he plays in,” fellow life-timer and new workout partner Ron Santo yells from across the locker room. “It smells like YOU just dominated the toilet,” Murphy shoots back with a playful smile… Santo laughs and heads out to the field.

In a ROCKY style training facility just outside Schaumburg, IL, Santo and Murphy have been attacking their workouts with a gorilla style fitness regiment. “Ron has been great. He has helped me regain that spark I had when I first started and got me back to feeling the strike-zone and looking for my pitch… Ron is intense, but loves this game more than ANYONE I have ever been around and has always had a great feel for the zone.”

With the potential cleanup spot in the lineup looming, Murphy will again be leaned on for big production in an Owls lineup with very little power and a lot of potential. When asked if he has any song lyrics that he hopes to sing at the end of the season, Murphy raps “Don’t call it a comeback,” as he blasts a 450 foot bomb into the left field bleachers at Brisson Field during batting practice.

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Action Expected On McKeon This Week

Fogelberg – The ASBL announced yesterday that they will take no disciplinary action on Boggstown Boilers manager Jack McKeon after his post-game tirade last week in Fogelberg. They instead encouraged the Boilers organization to decide any disciplinary action for McKeon on their own accord.