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Mets to face of against ex-postseason hero Daniel Murphy

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Nam Y. Huh/AP

Daniel Murphy celebrates after hitting a two-run blast during the eighth inning of Game 4 of the NLCS.

PORT ST. LUCIE — When the Mets open their Grapefruit League schedule Thursday, they’ll see Daniel Murphy in Natty red across the field for the first time, an experience Terry Collins reckons will be “real weird. Real strange.”

The trip to the Nationals’ spring home in Viera, an hour or so north of Tradition Field, also should serve as a reminder of sorts of all the Mets accomplished last year. At least that’s how David Wright sounded as he talked about the idea of Murphy, once the longest-tenured Met other than the captain, wearing new colors.

“I’m glad that he got a chance to experience the success, especially for him individually and us as a team last year, having gone through a lot of the down years when we didn’t play in the postseason,” Wright said Wednesday after a workout at Tradition Field.

“I’m glad that his last memory in a Mets uniform is doing so well in the playoffs and the team getting a chance to play in the World Series. Hopefully, he’ll — which I’m sure he will — remember the organization fondly.

“Sometimes, it’s just time to move on and I think Daniel and this organization have moved on. Not that he’ll ever be forgotten, especially with what he did in the postseason.”

Murphy, who is expected to play in Thursday’s game, his first ever against the Mets, capped his Queens tenure with a remarkable playoffs, helping lead the Mets to the World Series. He slammed seven postseason homers, including homering in a record six straight games. He was the MVP of the Mets’ NLCS sweep of the Cubs.

But Murphy stumbled in the World Series, batting .150 and making two costly errors. The fielding gaffes were perhaps a reminder to the Mets of one reason they ought to move on from their second baseman.

Beyond making him the $15.8 million qualifying offer, the Mets showed little interest in retaining Murphy. Now he’s an impediment to them getting back to the World Series after he wound up signing a three-year, $37.5 million deal with Washington, adding a certain spice to what already should be a dynamite rivalry.

To replace Murphy at second, the Mets traded Jon Niese to the Pirates for Neil Walker.

Wright is not going on Thursday’s trip, so he’ll have the jolt of seeing Murphy in another uniform some other time. But he predicted that it would wear off “by the first or second inning and be business as usual…. I’ve been around long enough to see friends traded, released, sign with new teams.”

Ah, another reminder from seeing Murphy elsewhere — baseball is, after all, a business.

JAN. 7, 2016 FILE PHOTOSusan Walsh/AP

Daniel Murphy signs three-year contract with the Nationals.

“I was really close with Jose (Reyes) and that was a very similar situation,” Wright said. “He went to Miami and it was a little weird at first. There are some of those business decisions that have to be made, both by a player and a team.

“Sometimes, they don’t keep everybody in the uniform they want to be in or they want them to be in and stuff like this happens. But it seems like it’s worked out well for both sides — Murph got a nice deal with a good team and we got what I think is one of the most underrated players in the game (Walker).

“I think both sides are happy.”

Of course, Wright is not dwelling on last year. He knows how important it is that his Mets get Murphy out this year. “Yeah, that’s the biggest thing,” Wright said. “I’m rooting for him, I guess. A little. Not against us.”

Then Wright smiled and said, “He could’ve chosen to go to a different team. That’d been nice. He’s going to get his hits. Hopefully, they’re not against us and they’re not big hits.”

Wright considers Murphy a friend and says he’s talked to his old teammate “a handful of times already this spring.

“He seems to be fitting in well over there and obviously he still has some friends over here.”

“I am one of them,” Collins added. “It will be nice to see him.”

At first, though, a little strange.

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