Swing adjustments rewarding so far for Sea Dogs’ Murphy

Before the Portland Sea Dogs came back to town for a seven-game homestand last Friday, David Murphy was having his typical April.

The Sea Dogs’ center fielder was hitting a modest .214 with one home run, two doubles, and 10 RBIs after 21 games.

“April historically hasn’t been my best month and I just kind of laughed at it and figured ‘Oh well, another April’,” the 24-year-old Spring, Texas, native said with a slight chuckle. “I wasn’t doing extremely well, but I have had some great at-bats and I know it’s cold here and still very early.”

It might still be a little cold at Hadlock Field as May relieves April, but the same can’t be said for Murphy’s bat. Since the team bus pulled into 271 Park Avenue, Murphy has become Portland’s hottest hitter.

The Boston Red Sox top pick (17th overall) in the 2003 draft out of Baylor University has seven hits in his last 17 at-bats, a .411clip, over his last four games (through Monday) with two home runs, three doubles and five RBIs.

Unlike the case of Texas Rangers outfielder Kevin Mench, who hit seven home runs in seven games after he stopped wearing cleats that were too small, it wasn’t the shoes for Murphy.

“Throughout the course of the season, you have to make adjustments and I had a lot of movement going on in my hands, so I tried to quiet down my whole body pretty much,” Murphy explained. “My hitting coach said something to me about it a week ago and I kind of figured it out Saturday.”

Yeah, in grand style. The 6-foot-4 lefthander belted a game-winning grand slam Saturday night.

Besides making adjustments, Murphy chalks up his turnaround to making it a point not to dwell on the negative and carry every bad at-bat into the next one.

“This is my third season and a lot of it is day-to-day adjustments,” Murphy said. “You have to shake off setbacks and not let them affect you. That’s the big thing.”

Another big thing is having college sweetheart and wife of 16 months, Andrea, with him most of the season, at home and on the road.

“She only missed 15 to 20 games last year and we played in 142 plus the playoffs,” he said. “It’s awesome having her with me and helping me get away from baseball once in awhile.

“As important as baseball is in my life, it will never be as important as my wife and my family.”

Ex-Lumberjack keeps on Ralling

Former Bangor Lumberjacks player Tim Rall’s climb up the rungs of affiliated minor league ball continues as the lefthander has been promoted to Triple A by the Oakland Athletics.

The former independent Northeast League All-Star starter, who went 1-0 with a 1.26 ERA in 10 appearances (14 1/3 innings, all in relief) with Double A Midland (Texas), is now pitching for the Sacramento River Cats of the historic Pacific Coast League.

Through Sunday, the lefthander has made one appearance for Sacramento. Rall allowed one hit and one earned run, notched two strikeouts, and walked none in 1 1/3 innings of relief for the River Cats. The 26-year-old native of Lynbrook, N.Y., had 11 strikeouts and five walks with Midland.

The Seattle Mariners purchased Rall’s contract from the Lumberjacks in 2004, shortly after the NEL All-Star Game, and assigned him to Single A Inland Empire. In 2005, he started off the year in Double A ball with San Antonio and was promoted to Triple A Tacoma two months later.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net