Because he was so well known for his sunny outlook, he opened games saying "the sun is shining, the sky is blue, it's a beautiful day for baseball", an unprecedented display of crankiness on his part received much attention. On July 25, 1990 in Philadelphia, the Mets took a 10-3 lead into the ninth inning, but rival Phillies opened the inning with seven consecutive singles, followed by a walk, and scored six runs to narrow the Mets lead to one run before the Mets were able to turn a double-play and get a line drive out. Murphy's patience was apparently worn thin by the long inning, and when the game finally ended, he famously exclaimed, "A line drive caught. The game is over. The Mets win it. A line drive to Mario Díaz. And the Mets win the ballgame! They win the damn thing by a score of 10 to 9!" The use of an expletive was so out of character that it was frequently cited as one of his more memorable moments following Murphy's retirement from the booth in and later when the Mets honored him after his death in .