Slowly but surely, Murphy starting to look like pre-surgery self

MIAMI - Anyone who watched Daniel Murphy in his first week back from major knee surgery could tell the veteran second baseman wasn't himself at the plate. One of baseball's best pure hitters the last two-plus seasons, Murphy opened his 2018 campaign 3-for-29 with five strikeouts for the Nationals.

Anyone who watched Murphy in his second and third weeks back from major knee surgery could tell he was better, but still not himself at the plate. Though he was starting to make better contact and record some hits, nearly all were singles. Over a 13-game stretch, he went 11-for-43 but managed only two extra-base hits.

Now anyone who has watched Murphy in his fourth and fifth weeks back from major knee surgery can tell he's close to looking like himself at long last. In his last 13 games, he's 17-for-40 (good for a .425 batting average), and most importantly has notched five extra-base hits.

True, only one of those hits has cleared the fence, but Murphy's four doubles (one of which came during a three-hit showing Friday night against the Marlins) provide evidence he's finally driving the ball with some authority.

"My hope was to hit doubles when I first came back. That didn't happen," he said. "There's only two choices: Keep grinding away, or feel sorry for yourself. (Hitting coaches) Kevin (Long) and Joe Dillon have done some great work with me. I'm just kind of sitting in this lineup right now. We're having great at-bats. There's a lot of traffic out there. And fortunately I was able to take some good swings personally tonight."

Even Murphy's out Friday night was loud: a second-inning line drive to left that was caught by Derek Dietrich.

And in the ultimate show of respect for a guy who is starting to resemble his 2016 and 2017 versions, Murphy was intentionally walked in the seventh inning, the first time an opponent has done that to him this season.

The comeback isn't fully complete yet. But Murphy has taken some incremental steps over the last month. Weak contact turned into solid contact. Solid contact turned into singles. Singles turned into doubles. There's only one more incremental step to take before he's all the way back.

"No doubt," manager Davey Martinez said. "His balls are starting to carry a little bit better. He's hitting doubles. What I know about Murph: His power's going to come, but he's a doubles guy. And he's starting to do that."