My Dream Trade Deadline Acquisition

One of the top Dunn moments just happened yesterday.

Feeling cold tonight? Listen to this gem of a memory!

I have saved this and listened to it from time to time as a heartwarmer. It was the greatest Reds comeback in my personal memory, and my heart fills with joy every single time I listen to it. Such a wonderful warmer on this dark and very cold night!

I'm gonna miss this

Yesterday about 3pm there was a woman in the lobby of my office building with stacks of free Nationals tix, so I scooped up four of them and went to the ballpark after work.

Adam Dunn hit a homer - his 38th of the season. He's already hit his 100 RBI. Oh, and he's hitting .279 right now, making this pretty much the best season of his career.

That was the extent of good baseball. The Dunn bomb gave the Nationals a 2-1 lead, and it was the last time Major League baseball was played on that field by the home team, for the Little Leaguers took over after that. What a craptastic game.

Did I mention Adam Dunn hit his 38th homer of the season and is batting .279?

Pedro!

Been pretty busy lately, trying to save the world and all. Or at least the country that seems to be at the center of all of the world's conflicts - past, present, and probably but hopefully not future.

I was thinking about the season and how I haven't been to a baseball game since the Reds came to Washington at the beginning of June - no wait, Randy Johnson's 300th, whichever came last - and how this is pretty new to me, this not paying attention to baseball, and it really makes me quite sad.

You know about my trip, but that was only two weeks, and it was in July and this is now September and it's cold and gray and the leaves are shaking with September's sad song and there's a sort of violence on the television screens that acts as The Sport and all of the color is starting to drain from the world.

I hate it.

I hate it because September baseball has been meaningless for me for the past decade. Sure, you get to see all the rookies take a few swings and all, but for far too long we've held out hope in those guys and nothing ever comes of it.

I saw this guy in the Metro this morning wearing a Reds hat and jersey - a real fan, not wearing it just for the colors - and I said "nice shirt" and he said "I'm going to see Adam Dunn tonight" and I said "Me too!" But I lied. I'm not going to see Dunn. I'm going to see Pedro. Dunn isn't Dunn with that Natinals stitched upon his chest. No, Dunn was in the wrong uniform all season and his real team scored fewer runs than everyone else in baseball.

Ah, remember the days when Dunn and Kearns were the future, back when "wait til next year" actually meant something...

Well, Reds, I'm not waiting anymore. I haven't given you a dime since that last time I saw you lose in DC when it was still spring and you still had a winning record. I knew even then it wouldn't last. I have watched a handful of games on television since then. I'm not sure you won even one of them.

So I'm going to a baseball game tonight, and I'm going to see a GOOD team play with a future Hall of Famer taking the mound in a funny colored uniform. It's a cold and gray day, a rotten vegetable of a day, just like the taste baseball has left in my mouth this season.
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Phront runners

...and the rain came down. There was no more baseball. It came in the sixth inning and never stopped. Even iph it had shown signs oph letting up, baseball was over when the groundscrew phailed to put the tarp on the phield in a timely manner.

My, how the bandwagoners have come out in droves. Two years ago, a game versus the Philadelphia Phillies was like playing the Phish - no one cared. Now, however, everyone is a Phillies phan - and they all own Chase Utley shirts, although a phew are wearing Schmidt shirts. I saw one with a Rose shirt, and I phound that one particularly annoying. (I know Rose won a World Series with that team, but they shouldn't be allowed to claim him as one oph their own!)

The new annoyance started when I hopped the Metro to go to the game. The train was packed with these phrontrunner creatures in shiny new caps and jerseys they probably got phor Christmas last year. They were obnoxiously loud and oddly arrogant, like there hadn't been nearly three decades since their last World Series championship, like their team didn't have the most losses in Major League Baseball history. Then, when we got oph the train, they started chanting "Let's go Phils" that echoed down the rails oph the Green Line. One jerk even pointed to a guy in a Nats cap and said "Look, there's one!" as iph it was cool to be on the bandwagon and there was something wrong with someone who root, root, rooted phor the home team.

These new phans in their 2008 World Champions shirts don't care about the game. This much was evident in a new place called "The Bullpen," a phenced oph bit oph land that gives Nationals phans a place around the ballpark to drink bephore the games. It's smart land use - the ballpark is located in an undeveloped part oph town and they turned a vacant lot into a place to go without having to build anything - just poured a little blacktop and voila! A cool place to hang out. There's a beer and phood tent, a stage with live music, speed pitch, and sadly enough, cornhole. (When I was a kid, this was called beanbag toss and was played by children.)

"The Bullpen ophers interactive sports games phor children sponsored by Under Armour and Headphirst Camps, great local phood vendors including Rocklands and Surfside, a beer garden sponsored by Bud Light, and live music."

Because I was waiting phor a phriend with our tickets, I did not get into the park at the start oph the game, so I waited in the Bullpen with the new Phillies Phans. I watched the phirst two innings on the HD televisions they had in the beer garden while the new Phillies Phans played cornhole with no concern phor the game. Cheers did not erupt phrom the mouths oph phrat boys and sorority chicks when Ryan Howard hit a bomb into centerphield to give the Phillies an early 3-1 lead. No, they drank their Crud Light and played their cornhole in their Erik Estrada and Paris Hilton sunglasses.

Bephore I went to the Bullpen, I walked around the stadium a bit - I hadn't had a chance to do that yet, and I had plenty oph time to kill. I am not impressed one bit. The ballpark looks like an ophice building. Look at the picture - does it recite baseball's poetry to your soul? No. It screeches (pun intended) its corporatist ramblings and deaphens the heart. There is no character to the park, nothing that would signal something beautiphul is taking place within its walls.

It was the third inning when I decided to get a ticket phrom a scalper - there have been very phew times in my liphe that I've been late to a game. I phound one phor phive bucks and went into the ballpark. But I was disoriented. I was entering a ballpark with nearly three innings gone, so what I did was walk around the park snapping pictures phor a bit. And then I did something I've never done bephore - I bought a shirt with a player's name on it. Guess who? (Note to selph - beer and phull bank accounts don't mix.)

When you enter the park, you are greeted by three strange sculptures oph the only players in Washington's history that are worth mentioning, and they're good ones - Phrank Howard, Walter Johnson, and Josh Gibson. I'm not sure I like the sculptures, however. See that stuph hanging oph Howard? It's supposed to be his bat in motion. Johnson's arm is supposed to be in motion, and I guess Josh is phlying or something (see pics below.) So even a great idea they messed up in building this park. Still is really nice phor Josh to get a place next to Howard and Johnson (pun intended). Iph I could see any player in history, I wouldn't pick Babe Ruth, at least not the white version. I'd pick the "Black Babe Ruth," Josh Gibson. Iph this country hadn't institutionalized racism, Gibson would be at the top oph a heck oph a lot oph Major League Baseball records.

No, that is not a mistake. Dunner played rightphield last night.

My phriend showed up to the game in the phiphth inning with the tickets. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the seats were in the Diamond Club section. It was nice to have a waiter to bring stuph, and because I could, I ordered a buphalo dog though I wasn't hungry. A buphalo dog is a hot dog with buphalo sauce topped with cole slaw. The Diamond Club version also had a blue cheese dressing on it. I think blue cheese is disgusting, but this was just bearable enouph. I only ate halph oph it because it got soaked when the rains came. This is something I would get again. (I love hot sauce. I want to marry Phrank's Red Hot Sauce. I put Phrank's on everything - and a lot oph it, too!)

The air changed. The rain was just a matter oph time, and the change in the air was a rephlection oph that. And then it came. It started with a phew drops, tiny, barely discernible drops that sent wimps to seek shelter. Someone behind me yelled "Where's your heart?" at those scurrying away. Turns out, they were right. A phew pitches later, the sky broke open, letting loose all oph the day's stipling humidity that had made it rather uncomphortable in the earlier hours. There was no delay in the ump's decision to stop the game - I've never seen a whole team get oph the phield so quickly. The phans? Well, they weren't so phast. People couldn't phigure out how to quickly put one phoot in phront oph the other, so we all got soaked trying to phind shelter phrom the downpour. That's when my hot dog got wet.

But here's where the Diamond Club is worthy oph membership - my ticket gave me access to the phancy bar and restaurant, where I sat until they phinally kicked us out because the game had been called. Phinal score - Phillies 7, Nationals 5 in six innings. I had spent only two innings in these awesome seats. Bummer.

All oph the bandwagoner crap got me thinking about what will happen when the Reds start winning. Will this happen to us? I pheel like the Reds have a pretty solid and loyal phanbase - attendance hasn't dropped signiphicantly since this losing decade began. We also have one oph the most active online communities, which sprung up during the decade oph losing. Oph course there will be bandwagoners, but I don't think the ephect will be as great as the Phillies or Bread $ox.

The Phillies go phrom DC to Cincy, so I get more Philly. But Cincy isn't a two and a halph hour drive phrom Philly, and it isn't the weekend, so the Philly bandwagon won't be as phull as it was this weekend.

Here are some more photos phrom the evening:

.297/.458/.581

Know what I mean?

Yeah, I had great seats for Thursday night's game against the Deadbirds. Got up close with Prince Poopholes. But you know what? I like the Reds first baseman A-OK and think he's gonna be as good as the Dark Prince of Missouri. I just want the Nationals leftfielder back in Cincinnati.

Photos from the game:

I'm glad Joey Votto is on my team.

What an awesome day for baseball.

A man who played a game for a living sat in a dugout with his fingers to his neck. Forty-two thousand people, feet planted firmly in a standing position, roared thunder into a great white dome as the clean up hitter dug into the batter’s box. Bottom of the ninth, two outs, man on second, down one run. It was the classic Hollywood situation brought very much to life under the glare of an international spotlight.

The man checking his pulse was the one responsible for the outcome of the game. A last minute roster replacement, only fate had put him in the dugout, and he had delivered with one hit, two walks, and two runs. That one hit was the difference maker, a two run bomb that put Team USA up 6-3 at the time of the blast. (Oh Adam, first in war, first in peace, last in the National League East.)

What a joyous sight it was to see a stadium filled with so many enthusiastic fans for a fledgling tournament with a vocal opposition. Canadians brandished maple leaves and the Stars and Stripes responded with a choral minority. Venezuelans, too, were well represented as they waited for the next game, their violent yellow announcing their presence with authority. But. USA! USA! USA!

This was a beautiful baseball game. If your heart wasn’t racing like Adam Dunn’s, you’re probably dead. And if you didn’t watch it, you should be dead. (Ha ha, just kidding on that last part. But you did miss a hell of a game.) The intensity was astounding, the mood festive, the passion deep and genuine. If you love the game with the little white sphere, this was the game for you.

Dunner had a brief but great interview after the game, an interview in which he said flat out he’d never been to the playoffs but this was what he thought the playoffs were like. And you could see in his eyes and hear in his voice and feel with your soul that the excitement he felt was unlike anything he’d known. Playoff atmosphere it was, indeed. He had a big game in a game that mattered. As a Reds fan, one has to wonder what he could have done in autumn baseball. As a Nats fan, I know he isn’t going to get that any time soon. As a Dunn fan, I have just conjured up this bizarre scenario in my imagination where the Reds are in first place at the trade deadline but realize they need a power bat if they are to make it to the promised land, and without Jimbo at the helm, a trade can return him to his rightful place in leftfield (with all due respect to Chris Dickerson and whoever else may play there.)

What a game.

A kid with a kid’s name comes up to the plate for his first at bat, see, this canuck, and he stares at one of the best pitchers in the game and says, whatever, and promptly singles. But that wasn’t good enough. Next at bat, he mashes one into the rightfield stands to put his team up 2-1. And you really have to watch him. He has It. He has The Thing. Oh, yes, he had an excellent rookie season the previous year, would have won rookie of the year if this other kid who played a tougher position for a better club hadn’t had a season equally as good. But this canuck, see, he has The Beauty and you don’t see that very often in your life. Ken Griffey, Jr. had The Beauty and now he has the ghost of The Beauty but it’s still beautiful. So Joey Votto isn’t content with his single and his homer and singles again later in the game, when his team is down and needs to score. And then he comes up in the ninth inning with his team down by two runs and what does he do but hits a double that scores the fifth run for his team.

I can’t wait to see this guy play October baseball with Cincinnati stitched across his chest.

That brings up Jason Bay. Votto, who is not slow, is pinch run for, and I don't know anything about the pinch runner except he looked like Votto if Votto weren't a pinup boy. Same body, different face. A little scrawnier, I guess. Oh man, this was a great battle. I was at least chewing on my fingers or something like that because I did feel like this was the playoffs and I was definitely sitting on the edge of the couch and I felt my heart in my throat but I was torn. I rooted with all of my being for the one who will someday be The Best Canadian To Ever Play The Game to get a hit and he did and secretly I had wanted a homer to tie it up. I know, I know, in this day and age a person is never satisfied, right? Well, I am rooting for Team USA in the tournament because USA! USA! USA! but I am also rooting for Reds players and I saw our canuck in the dugout after the game and he was so sad but Dunner was so happy and oh my god I don't know what to think because I'm happy and sad at the exact same time and well, We won.

That was a darn good baseball game.

(You can get the full game recap here. I’m not here to regurgitate things you can find on any other website in the vast of the world wide web.)
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Top Ten Reasons To Watch The World Baseball Classic

Team USA appeared on Letterman last night and read the Top Ten list.

10. Jimmy Rollins: "Due to the economic crisis, we all have to share the same pair of pants"

9. Curtis Granderson: "Japan has one of them crazy robot shortstops"

8. Dustin Pedroia: "Because it's an international event, our right fielder is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton"

7. Chipper Jones: "The winning team plays Neptune in the Galactic Baseball Classic"

6. Roy Oswalt: "It's fascinating seeing how players from other countries scratch themselves"

5. Adam Dunn: "You'll be part of a cherished baseball tradition dating all the way back to 2006"

4. Ryan Braun: "Because of the metric system, the games will be 6.83 innings"

3. Kevin Youkalis: "Before each game, you get to sit through 30 different national anthems"

2. David Wright: "Australia's secret weapon: a fastball-throwin' kangaroo"

1. Derek Jeter: "What else are you going to watch, hockey?"

Watch it here.
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Dunn gets his number

Lastings Milledge gave up his number 44 to Adam Dunn. Said Milledge

"He hit 240 [homers] the last six years," Milledge said. "How ... am I going to wear that and let him wear another number?"

Seems like the young guy respects the game.

For the record, Dunn has hit 278 homers in his career. And he's only 29 years old.

LOL

I was reading this article on PECOTA projections on MLB.com and got a real kick out of one of the comments:

In all of these talks about the Phillies, Marlins, Red Sox, Yankees, Tampa Bay winning the series, I haven't heard anyone mention the Nationals. They are the best team in baseball this year, and now that they have Adam Dunn on there team they should have no problems beating the likes of the Phillies, Marlins, the aweful Mets, and maybe the Brave who can upset the other htree teams I just mentioned. The Nationals have the best pitching, and hitting of all of basball, and should pose a threat to most of the National League teams who think they might have a chance of making the playoffs. The Nationals will be the 2009 World Series Champions. Read my writing, it's a fact.

What is a person like this doing reading an article about PECOTA? The person is obviously logically challenged. And spelling challenged. And probably mathematically challenged. Which would mean PECOTA would scramble his universe.

The Nationals are projected to win 79 games this year. Same as the Reds. But the Reds have pitching. The Nats have 80 outfielders. At least one of them has never played on a winning team in his entire career, and his arrival to the Majors was the first year of an 8 year long losing streak.

Dunn with Dunn?

You may have noticed that I've taken down my "Dunn for Leftfielder" campaign sign. Well, after hearing that he is asking $14 million for this year, I'm not so sure I want him around. Hey Adam, you know Pat Burrell? The guy that's pretty much you? He got $8 million.

Something Brandon Phillips said on the radio last week got me thinking about Dunn. To paraphrase, he said that Dunn and Griffey weren't on the team so the team was no longer about two guys but about everybody. I mean, I know we all knew about Dunn and Griffey being a little, how should I say it? Stuck up? But how much did their attitudes hurt the team?

We'll never really know, of course, but if Brandon Phillips said he's excited to play on a team without the egos, well, there just might be something to that.

So I'm done with Dunn. It's time to move on. It's time to be excited about Bruce and Votto and hope they never grow up to be Dunn and Griffey.

Change is coming to the outfield

With Al Franken currently hanging onto the lead in the Minnesota US Senate race, I am in the campaign spirit and put together a few yard signs to put in my virtual church lawn.

According to an article on Reds.com which is according to an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Reds' outfield search is down to three: Willy Taveras, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Rocco Baldelli. You can tell what I think of that (even if I did misspell Taveras on the sign. And yes, that's a black hole behind the NO.) Baldelli? Well, I can't say I am sold on him either, what with his second weird disease diagnosis of the year, but they say this one's curable. Yet he seems like the best of the three options, if those are our only options.

I'm wondering - were the 68 stolen bases Taveras had last year the only 68 times he was on base?

Of course, my preference is widely known.

How could you NOT want a guy who hits 40 homers, 100 RBIs, and 100 runs EVERY YEAR?

And who's only 29?

And whose career on base percentage is .381?

And whose career slugging percentage is .518?

I think it's time the Reds took off their tin foil hats and started looking at Dunn the way he SHOULD be looked at - as one of the best sluggers available to them. Only with Dunn standing in leftfield would a signing of someone like Taveras or Hairston be not uncomfortable.
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Wherefore art thou, Adam Dunn?

The time has come for us to wonder, where is Adam Dunn, or more precisely, where is Adam Dunn’s name? There seems to be no talk of signing him among the Rosenthals and Olneys of the country. A player who is very similar, Pat Burrell, gets a lot of ink these days. Why no Dunn, who has 278 career homers at age 29?

Strikeouts. People are obsessed with strikeouts. How is striking out any different than grounding out? It still counts for the same number of outs: 1. Granted, there are times when a grounder or fly can advance a runner, but the saberdorks will tell you that the number of times this happens – and happens to matter – is minuscule compared to the number of runs a guy like Dunn is actually responsible for producing.

We’ve heard the Nationals calling, but Leatherpants just traded for Willingham and currently has about 50 outfielders (only some of them former Reds, not all of them). I suppose that won’t stop him from signing another, too. Dunn can be with his buddy Austin again, just like old times.

Even if Dunn doesn’t end up on the Nationals and he’s still unemployed come February, it’s not like he’s going to have to get his 3 in 1 credit report and worry about where the dough will come from. He is not going to suffer the same fate has hundreds of thousands of Americans have in the past year, that being a layoff. Someone will sign him, someone who needs a leftfielder.

I’m hoping it’s the Reds.

Looook into my crystal ball

I missed this article the other day, but I saw the headline "Nationals targeting slugger to clean up" and I knew that Adam Dunn would be a National next season. I don't mind that at all, because I will be back in DC for next baseball season. But I can't help feel a little sad, because I was hoping (and am still hoping, honestly), that Dunn would resign with the Reds.

Get yourselves out and vote!

Conspiracy theories

As I am still lamenting the loss of Adam Dunn every single darn day I wake up, my imagination is starting to get the best of me.

What if the Reds traded him to get him some postseason experience for next year? Dunner's a free agent - no reason in the world the Reds can't sign him.

Anything to make me feel better. The Sam just doesn't make the hurt go away.

GO DIAMONDBACKS! (Guess that cap I bought at the BOB back in the day may get some wear this October.)

D'Backs vs. White Sox 2008 World Series

Since there's nothing Reds-related to root for, I'm rooting for a Dunn-Griffey World Series.

I haven't been this depressed about a trade since Paul O'Neill went to the Bankee$ all those years ago.

I just can't believe it. How can you not sign a guy who has hit 270 home runs by AGE 28 to a long term contract????


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This stinks.

Dunn and gone

I don't feel much like being a Reds fan any more.

We had all of this exciting young talent to look forward to, but now what? We've been "rebuilding" forever. I'm sick of it.

Who wants to bet Jocketty goes out and gets Jim Edmonds for centerfield next year? What will he be - 38 years old then?

And Corey Patterson is still on the team. Unbelievable. I feel like saying some rather unkind words to Bob Castellini.
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Ryan Howard = Adam Dunn

Tell me why Dunn's contract status is in question, yet the whole nation loves Ryan Howard? Yeah, Howard has more RBI, but Dunn has more runs scored. That's pretty much the only difference aside from Dunn's 9 SBs.

Wayne - EXTEND DUNN'S CONTRACT!!! SIGN HIM CHEAP NOW FOREVER!!!

(click for bigger image)

Wow!

Can you imagine getting to sit in these seats every game?

Wow, really, wow. My whole baseball season is ruined after sitting here. Just incredible seats - how can I go back to the upper deck? I've experienced a part of baseball I never have before - the baseball experience of "The Haves."

I'll explain why I was sitting here tomorrow, and I have many, many more photos to share.