The Kansas City Royals have worked hard to prevent Daniel Murphy from beating them through the first two games of the World Series.
Murphy set a Major League record with a home run in six straight postseason games, including one is each of the four games the New York Mets played in the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs.
"He really hasn't gotten too many pitches to hit -- that's the bottom line," hitting coach Kevin Long said. "Pitches are off the plate. Pitches are low. Pitches are high. He's doing what he needs to do. He's taking what they've given him. They haven't given him a whole lot."
Murphy did his damage earlier this postseason on pitches to the middle and outer thirds of the plate. He saw six pitches in his first at-bat of Game 2. The only one not on the inner third was a 1-2 changeup in the dirt. Overall in Game 2, Murphy saw 23 pitches in four plate appearances. None of them touched the middle third of the strike zone.
"I just think that if they execute, it's always going to be a tough at-bat," Murphy said. "I feel like they've executed well. We've gotten some pitches to hit. I've gotten some pitches to hit that I've missed. So we'll regroup and get ready for Game 3."