Murphy, Escobar join list of unlikely Mr. Octobers
Daniel Murphy sent yet another shot soaring over the wall and thrust his right arm in the air — he was in the record book, his Mets were headed to the World Series.
Alcides Escobar made his mark with a single, double, triple and bunt. That made him the first player to lead off four straight games in a post-season series with a hit, putting the Royals ahead in the ALCS. For both, a charmed October. Far from superstars or the highest-paid guys on their teams, Murphy and Escobar became the latest surprise sensations on baseball’s biggest stages.
Murphy might be having the best month of them all. After hitting a career-best 14 homers in the regular season, the free agent-to-be connected seven times in nine playoff games. He hit four long balls, went 9 for 17 and drove in six runs in New York’s four-game sweep of the Cubs to earn NLCS MVP.
Escobar got off to a fast start, too. A lifetime .262 hitter in eight seasons, the Royals shortstop quickly turned into the No. 1 headache for the Blue Jays.
Through the first five games of the ALCS, he had 10 hits in 19 at-bats, drove in five runs and scored six. Overall in the postseason this year, he was batting .400 and tied with Murphy for most hits with 16.
Escobar has also played sparkling defence, including his much-replayed, run-saving, diving grab of Russell Martin’s liner in Game 2 against Toronto.
The newest Mr. Octobers have plenty of company. Here’s a look back at some of the surprise stars of post-seasons past:
David Freese, Cardinals, 2011: Raised in the St. Louis area, he had played only 184 games in the regular season when he emerged as just the sixth player to win MVP of the LCS and World Series. The third baseman drove in 21 runs in 18 games. He had four RBIs in a 5-3 win over Philadelphia that forced a deciding Game 5 in the NL Division Series. He hit three homers and drove in nine runs against the Brewers in the next round. Freese really put his stamp on the post-season in the Fall Classic, especially Game 6. Freese had a tying triple with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a walk-off homer in the 11th.
Cody Ross, Giants, 2010: He went from unwanted man in August to MVP of the NLCS with an impressive power display against the Phillies’ Big Three of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. He homered twice against Halladay and once off Oswalt, then kept it simple, breaking a scoreless tie with an RBI single.
David Ortiz, Red Sox, 2004: Ortiz spent six middling seasons with the Minnesota Twins before moving to Boston in ’03. A year later he had his first 30-homer season. But it wasn’t until he led the Red Sox to the majors’ only comeback from an 0-3 deficit in a best-ofseven series — against the rival Yankees — that he really broke out. Ortiz drove in 11 runs and went 12 for 31 (. 387) with three homers to notch MVP honours in the ALCS.
Mike Devereaux, Braves, 1995: Mike who? The 1995 NLCS MVP, that’s who. Devereaux ended Game 1 with an 11th-inning single. He then proceeded to connect for a threerun homer that iced the Braves’ four-game sweep of the Reds.