Imagine How Mad I'd Be If He Was The O's Manager

I know it was a good result but well, I just really don't like Dusty Baker. It's not exactly personal, but for some reason I feel a little bit insulted that people think he's so great. I hope he doesn't ruin Adam Dunn. It would be great if Dunn could hit .300 with the same OBP and SLG, but I doubt that could happen.

In the ninth inning of their win over Arizona, before Edwin Encarnacion's heroics, Dunn singled to the opposite field on a 3-1 pitch.

"Asked when he decided to take the ball to left field, Dunn said, “When the count went to 3-and-0 and I knew they weren’t going to give me anything to hit out of the park to tie the game. Yes, I hit it off the end of the bat and it probably was a ball, but I’ll take it.”"

So, going along with what Dusty Baker wants, Dunn passed up what he thought would be a walk in return for putting the ball in play weakly off the end of the bat. If he keeps this up he'll turn into Shea Hillenbrand, who would hit .300 with no desearnable on-base or slugging ability. Everyone knows what Adam Dunn is good at. Luckily for Cincinnati, what Adam Dunn is good at also does a lot to help the team score runs. Why would you try to change that?

“I’m going to tell him that was great and it was something I talked to him about during spring training,” said Baker. “That really made the inning.”

That really made the inning. Not the game-winning homer. The soft single to left. Which would have been as good as the walk he would have taken anyway. Man, if Encarnacion had been able to get his bunt down, they really would have had something going. Perhaps Baker will encourage Dunn to steal 20 bases too (in the 45 attempts it would take).