" Sure, there were dark days for Daniel Murphy. His knee ached. He wondered, "Why me?" He has flashed back to last season's batting race and thought perhaps of an opportunity lost, even though he also knew his teammate, Jose Reyes, was "killing the ball — I've never seen someone that hot."

Maybe Murphy would not have become the first Met to win the batting title instead of Reyes. And maybe he would not have kept up his torrid hitting for the final seven weeks or so. Still, it was hard sometimes for Murphy not to feel that another season was stolen from him by another serious knee injury.

But those times are gone now. Murphy says he won't brood, won't obsess over the two knee injuries that ended his last two seasons. In fact, he says he's found something to hold dear because of the injuries — a renewed Christian faith."