Murphy on return to Nats: "I'm progressing nicely"; batting title of less importance

To get some sense of the impact second baseman Daniel Murphy has on the Nationals and how much he has been missed, just listen to the crowd.

When Murphy was announced as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth, the 28,730 assembled at Nats Park roared their approval.

Manager Dusty Baker wanted to give his hitting star a chance to win the batting title. But the strained buttocks muscle had slowed Murphy's progress this week and some thought he might just be rested for another five days as the team prepares for the Dodgers on Friday at Nats Park.

But Murphy was close to a batting title. Before today's final games, Colorado's D.J. Murphy was hitting .3472 to LeMahieu's .3478. LeMahieu didn't play in the Rockies game. That left Murphy an opportunity: With one hit, he would win the batting title.

The club had rallied for three runs for an 8-5 lead on Danny Espinosa's dramatic two-run shot. Baker explained the scenario to give Murphy an at-bat.

"There was nobody on base and there wasn't a double play situation or a two-out situation," Baker said. "We had a guy out there who threw pretty hard. He hadn't had any at-bats. That's what went into the situation.

"As far as what we were told before the game, that LeMahieu had sat out yesterday and today, so it was a matter of percentage points. We were trying to give him an at-bat. If he got a hit, then that was going to force LeMahieu to win this thing without sitting down."

LeMahieu did not play in the Rockies 6-4 10-inning loss to the Brewers. So the Colorado second baseman finished with a .3478 batting average. With Murphy's flyout to right field to end the fifth, he finished with a .3465 batting average. Similar to last season's battle between Dee Gordon and Bryce Harper, the Nationals player comes up a bit short.

But this season is different because the Nationals get to play in a second season. That's key for Murphy when asked about the importance of a batting title.

"We accomplished one of our goals, actually two of our goals, I'd say," Murphy said. "We won the NL East, and we're hosting a division series as well. So no, the batting title is not something I gave a lot of thought to."

More important to Murphy and the Nationals was he got into a game and got to go through an at-bat before Friday.

"I was available yesterday to pinch-hit," Murphy said. "We had done some really good rehab work and so the trainers cleared me for a pinch-hit at-bat yesterday. Skipper just double-switched late in the game, so (Brian Goodwin) took that at-bat. And also it's nice to get in there and kind of dig in a little bit, get an at-bat or two. So it was nice to get it."

Does Baker believe Murphy is ready to jump back into a full game after taking most of the last 12 days off?

"Yeah, so far," Baker said. "We'll see more this week when he's at practice. Hitting's not the problem. We'll see how he responds in other facets of the game in our workouts Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."

Murphy did not get the five at-bats he would get in a normal game, but he took the one opportunity in the fifth as a positive step.

"It's tough to probably say because I only ran about 70 feet before they caught it," Murphy said. "I felt good in the box, and I felt good running at the speed I did. So I'm progressing nicely."