Murphy sidelined with illness, Difo gets another start

Daniel Murphy is out of the Nationals lineup for the second straight day, and this one is no simple planned-in-advance day off.

Murphy is under the weather, dealing with a stomach bug, according to acting manager Chris Speier.

"He's just not feeling all that hot," said Speier, who is filling in for Dusty Baker this weekend while the latter attends his son's high school graduation in California.

Murphy, along with Ryan Zimmerman, didn't play in Friday night's series opener against the Padres, and Speier said both simply were getting a planned day off. Turns out Murphy already wasn't feeling well, and though he reported better to the ballpark today, Speier decided not to push it.

"He's available," Speier said. "This is Dusty's theory: Usually when somebody comes in and says, 'I'm ready,' then he usually gives him one more day. But he's available."

With Murphy sidelined, Wilmer Difo is starting his second consecutive game at second base. It's a rare, but welcomed opportunity for the 25-year-old infielder to get regular at-bats.

Difo did start nine straight games at shortstop in April after both Trea Turner and Stephen Drew suffered hamstring injuries. But since then, he has started only five games, including Friday night's contest.

Overall, Difo is batting only .186 with a .545 OPS, but club officials continue to rave about his abilities.

"Skill sets, he's got everything that you're looking for from a utility-type player," Speier said. "And I think that you wouldn't want to just categorize him and label him as a utility-type player. But on this team, he is. Given a chance to play every day, skill-wise it's all there. It's a matter of that consistency at the plate, showing that he can be offensively productive.

"And, as we talked about yesterday, when you're that utility player, you don't get that opportunity to go out there and play two, three, four a month at a time, every single day to see what you can do. Right now, he's invaluable to us."