Mets' Daniel Murphy defends paternity leave decision

Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy had 13 homers and 78 RBI for the team last season. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy said he did the right thing for his family after missing the team's first two games of the season to be with his wife for the birth of his first child.

Talk radio hosts in New York, including Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton, quickly chided Murphy for his decision.

He rejoined the Mets in time for Thursday's afternoon game against the Washington Nationals. The Mets lost the first two games of the three-game series without Murphy in the lineup.

"I got a couple of text messages about it, so I'm not going to sit here and lie and say I didn't hear about it," Murphy said, via ESPN.com. "But that's the awesome part about being blessed, about being a parent, is you get that choice. My wife and I discussed it, and we felt the best thing for our family was for me to try to stay for an extra day -- that being Wednesday -- due to the fact that she can't travel for two weeks.

WFAN Radio host Mike Francesa also ripped Murphy's decision and said that Murphy could hire a nurse to help take care of his wife.

"What are you gonna do, sit there and look at your wife in the hospital bed for two days?," Francesa said.

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