Path of the Pros: Adam Dunn
Former college quarterback hit 'light tower shots' in Minors.
It was a towering, 400-foot home run in the summer of 2001 that, appropriately, introduced Adam Dunn to much of the baseball world.
Dunn, a 6-foot-6, 21-year-old outfielder just a few years removed from the high school football spotlight, hit a blast off Oakland prospect Juan Pena at the All-Star Futures Game in Seattle's new Safeco Field. It was, of course, a tiny glimpse of what was to follow.
"That was one of my most exciting moments in baseball," Dunn said. "That was a lot of fun. It was my first All-Star game in baseball, as far as playing with all the big-name guys you hear about."
A few weeks later, Dunn found himself among even bigger stars. He homered in each of his final two Minor League games before making his Major League debut with Cincinnati on July 20. Then he set a National League rookie record for homers in a month, hitting a dozen in August.
"I thought I was ready," Dunn said. "I thought I could handle the world, man."
Dunn, a brawny Houston native, began his career in 1998 after the Reds made him their second-round Draft pick out of New Caney High School. They gave the slugger an $800,000 bonus, but his success wasn't guaranteed from the start -- Dunn threw for nearly 5,000 yards and 44 touchdowns in high school and had already signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Texas.
"I was just happy that I got drafted first. And second, the Reds let me play football," Dunn recalled. "But I didn't really care who drafted me, I just wanted a team to let me do both."
Dunn left Houston for Billings, Mont., in the summer of 1998 and began life as a Minor Leaguer in the Rookie-level Pioneer League. He hit .288 with four homers and 13 RBIs in 34 games before returning to Texas in August to suit up for the Longhorns.
"It was really hard to do," Dunn said of balancing his baseball and football careers. "I didn't play in many games and I had to leave and play football, so my first year was kinda tough."
Billings, some 1,600 miles from Houston, has a population that can't even fill Texas Memorial Stadium, the 100,000-seat facility where Dunn began his college football career.
He watched from the sidelines that season as Ricky Williams, who spent four seasons in the Phillies' Minor League system, won the Heisman Trophy. A year later, with a limited role on the team likely, Dunn gave up football.
"It was probably the hardest decision I've ever had to make," he said. "I'd done both my whole life and I knew eventually I'd have to give up one. But I look back now and I have no regrets."
Dunn's baseball career took off in 1999 after he was promoted to Class A Rockford in the Midwest League.
"I never saw or heard him say that he regretted [leaving football]. Not at all in his work ethic," said Mike Rojas, a Detroit Tigers hitting instructor who was Dunn's manager in Rockford.
Dunn struggled at first but went on to hit .307 with 11 homers, 44 RBIs and 21 steals in 93 games.
"He hit a lot of them, he hit some bombs and laser beams," Rojas said. "They got out real quick. In Rockford, our fan base wasn't very big, so those fans missed a lot."
Dunn flashed some speed at Class A, but Rojas said he never envisioned him as a five-tool player.
"You could see the power, the raw power, once he got to know and understand the way of hitting, working the count," Rojas said. "With his size and his power, he just took off. I gave the green light and he took advantage of it at the right time. But did we think he'd be a 40-40 guy? No."
The Reds gave Dunn another year in Class A in 2000 with Dayton, where he batted .281 and set career highs with 16 homers, 79 RBIs, 100 walks and 24 steals in 122 games.
"He was a kid, but you knew he was going to be a player," said Freddie Benavides, who managed Dunn in 2000. "There was a lot of work to be done, he was a football player playing baseball. He had a lot of ability, period. The guy showed a lot."
Dunn was offered a promotion to the Majors in September 1999, but opted to work on his swing in the instructional league.
"It wasn't really fair to everyone else to go up then. They were battling for the playoffs and I knew I wasn't ready to play up there," Dunn said. "I think I gained more respect doing that and I think it was the right decision."
Benavides, now the Reds' Minor League field coordinator, said Dunn worked that winter to become more consistent.
"They did a lot of work with him and he went home and we credited Adam with all the hard work. He came back and seemed like a different hitter," Benavides said. "He just took off, he had a monster year."
Dunn's path to the Majors was in view by the spring of 2001. Cincinnati sent him to Double-A Chattanooga and then for a bit more seasoning at Triple-A Louisville alongside fellow prospect Austin Kearns before a late-season call-up.
"He and Kearns competed with each other. (Dunn) definitely had the power, he always had the skills and strength," Benavides said. "He hit balls to the opposite field in A-ball. Physically, he was just raw strength and power."
Phillip Wellman, Dunn's manager at Chattanooga, said he had a feeling big things were on the horizon.
"He was huge, he was a big fella," Wellman laughed. "But I could see that just the way he walked as much as he did, you don't see that often. With 40 homers for five straight years, I'd be crazy if I said I knew that was coming, but I knew he had that kind of power. The balls he hit were mammoth bombs. He hit light tower shots."
Dunn raked his way through the Southern League, batting a career-best .343 with a dozen homers and 31 RBIs in 39 games.
"In the years I've managed in Double-A, you can name the guys on one hand who've come to Double-A and taken off," Wellman said. "Even some of the brightest prospects seem to struggle at first and they come out OK, but Dunn was one that never did that. He came from low-A and he didn't miss a beat."
Dunn made his Triple-A debut on May 15, 2001 and homered against Durham.
His home run at the Futures Game came a few days before he launched a pair of homers at the Triple-A All-Star Game, earning honors as the International League Star of Stars and Batter of the Game.
"That was wild, that was two days after Futures. I got on a plane and flew back to Indianapolis. I was just swinging the bat really well that whole month," said Dunn. "I was on a national stage and to be able to produce, it was pretty amazing. It's just one of those things that couldn't have been scripted any better."
It actually got better for Dunn a week later, when he debuted with the Reds and collecte his first Major League hit off Florida's Matt Clement.
"That was awesome," Dunn said, "something you'll always remember."
He eventually had the chance to play with many of the prospects he came up with, including Kearns, his old roommate.
"Those days were so much fun, that's what I remember the most, the great people," Dunn said. "Some of my best friends now, I played with in the Minors."
The Nationals slugger also recalled some advice he got from Double-A hitting coach Mike Greenwell, who helped him adjust his technique.
"It's something that when I get in trouble, I'll revert back to what he told me in 2001," said Dunn. "It's the little things, more of a feeling than anything. He definitely helped me on that, all the way through the Minors."
1998: Dunn played 34 games with the Mustangs before leaving in August to begin his college football career at the University of Texas.
1999: After leaving football behind, Dunn joined Class A Rockford and batted .307 with 21 steals in 93 games.
2000: The Reds kept Dunn at Class A, where he dominated for the Dragons. He drew 100 walks for the first time, collected 118 hits and plated 79 runs.
2001: Dunn jumped to Double-A to start the year and showed his power at the All-Star Futures Game, two days before homering twice at the Triple-A All-Star Game. The Reds had seen enough, promoting to the Majors for good.
(c) 2009 Minor League Baseball.
Pujols, Mauer named top players by peers
New York, NY (Sports Network) - St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols and catcher Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins were named the top players by the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Pujols paced the majors with 47 home runs, two shy of his career high, and drove in 135 runs. His .327 batting average ranked third in the National League.
Mauer led the majors with a career-high .365 batting average despite missing the first month of the season because of back injury. He also established personal bests with 28 home runs and 96 RBI.
(c) Sports Network.
Managers show mutual respect
PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies manager Charlie Manuel had already been doused in the traditional celebratory manner when he walked into the interview room after Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.
Manuel had reason to be smiling after his team wrapped up its second straight trip to the World Series with a 10-4 victory over the Dodgers in Game 5 on Wednesday night. But he wasn't ready to start talking about his team yet. First things first.
"Before I get started, I'd like to congratulate the Dodgers on their season, and most of all Joe Torre," Manuel said. "Joe Torre is a class act. I have a lot of respect for him. He's one of my favorite guys in baseball, and I played in the Dodger organization for a little while.
"I've always thought they were a first-class organization, and believe me, I wish them all the luck in the world. They've got a good team, and I'm sure they're going to be back here for a long time. I look forward to playing them in the future."
Manuel has enjoyed playing them the past two years. For the second straight season, the Phillies reached the World Series by knocking off the Dodgers in the NLCS. They are the first National League team to repeat as champions since the Braves in 1995-96.
"I have to congratulate Charlie," Torre said in the interview room. "I just did out in the hallway. Getting to the World Series two years in a row is not easy to do. We gave them a fight. As I say, they just wouldn't back down, and they kept going.
"But they are certainly a better team. We don't know who they're playing. But they're certainly going to represent our league very nicely."
Torre knows about going to the World Series. He never played in one as a player but he has been there six times as a manager while leading the Yankees. He won four World Series in 1996 and 1998-2000 while losing to the D-backs in 2001 and the Marlins in 2003.
It has now been nine years since Torre won a World Series. Manuel gets a chance to win two in a row.
"My first five years with the Yankees, you win four World Series, that's nuts," Torre said. "I remember seeing Jimmy Leyland, he says, 'What you're doing now is never going to be done again.' It seemed like it was easy, but we all know it's not.
"But yeah, when you have a little taste of what it's like to go on, it leaves you empty. It leaves you empty, there's no question about it. I mean, this is what you fight for, and I think every manager talks about it in the spring because that's our job. It's still something that keeps me around and keeps me wanting to do it some more."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Dodger Stadium a National institute
LOS ANGELES -- With Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, Dodgers Stadium has become the No. 1 site for playoff games in National League history.
Dodger Stadium has now hosted 107 postseason games, one more than the old Busch Stadium. Dodger Stadium is third overall.
The original Yankee Stadium is No. 1 with 322 postseason games, followed by Fenway Park with 146. The only other ballpark in postseason triple figures is the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum where the Athletics have hosted 100 playoff games.
Dodger Stadium, with Game 1 on Thursday, has now hosted 41 League Championship Series games. That passes the Coliseum for fourth most. Old Yankee Stadium had 62 LCS games, Fenway Park has had 52 and old Busch Stadium hosted 46.
The first postseason game held at Dodger Stadium took place on Oct. 5, 1963, in Game 3 of the World Series. Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, before 55,912 fans, pitched a three-hitter in a 1-0 victory over the Yankees.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Dodgers' brand of baseball surprises the Cardinals
As the postseason began Wednesday, it all went according to form.
Cliff Lee dominated the Rockies as expected, the Yankees dismissed the Twins, of course, and Randy Wolf showed why he went 275 starts without ever getting the chance to work a playoff game before.
It was Dodgers textbook baseball, all right, terrific entertainment, hair-raising and just how they won more games in the National League this season than any other.
You mix shaky starting pitching with a burst of hitting and a bullpen committee with the ability to take a game over beginning with the seventh inning, and the Cardinals probably still don't know what happened.
They had Chris Carpenter, as good as it gets in the National League, a 1-0 lead in the first inning -- as much support as Carpenter needs some times, and then they got mowed under by this wacky brand of chaos.
Rafael Furcal, who likes to say it doesn't matter how you start but only how you finish, had a single, triple, sacrifice fly to drive in a run and another single. No way the Cardinals could see that coming.
Matt Kemp, the game's next superstar, gave the Dodgers the lead and momentum at Carpenter's expense with a two-run homer, and while Wolf didn't last four innings, five other pitchers, including Jeff Weaver, got the job done.
Most experts had the Cardinals pegged to win this series with better starting pitching, but the Dodgers had the best team ERA in the National League and will undoubtedly try to employ the same winning formula today.
If successful, the Dodgers will get the chance to sweep, leaving those poor people in St. Louis to wake up Sunday with nothing to do but cheer for the Rams.
Yikes.
IN THE fourth inning, the count went to 3 and 0 on Andre Ethier, which sent Manny Ramirez running back into the dugout to switch bats. Once Ethier reached base, Manny doubled to left. If only he had thought about switching bats back in July.
THE DODGERS did everything they could to get the crowd going, Lakers on the scoreboard imploring everyone to make noise, celebrities, loud, pounding music and certainly not a minute of peace for anyone, but Dodgers fans opted to react on their own -- the game providing numerous opportunities to let loose.
It's a good thing the players weren't as uptight as the Dodgers' in-game entertainment crew, which seemed intent on forcing things to happen.
It was like the early days of the Parking Lot Attendant in charge, and former marketing guy Lon Rosen's idea of a good time everyone going home with a headache.
IT'S THE playoffs so I asked if any of the Dodgers had requested a change in personal songs for when they walk to home plate. I was told only one, Orlando Hudson, and it was a problem.
He chose, "I'm a A Dboy," Dboy, which is short for dope boy, and a song loaded with obscenities and a racial slur. The Dodgers were trying to do what they could to edit and clean it up. I suggested just letting Nancy Bea Hefley play it, figuring she's heard it so much on her iPod, she'd know it by heart.
THE DODGERS had Hugh Hefner and three of what appeared to be his closest companions introduce the "code of conduct" for fans in Dodger Stadium. I have no idea what the code of conduct might be for someone with three companions, so I listened intently.
But instead of Hef, we got other celebrities like Larry King and George Lopez telling everyone how to behave in Dodger Stadium. My favorite was Kobe Bryant, who told fans to watch their foul language. You know, just like he does.
VIN SCULLY was behind the radio microphone for the first three innings and the last, leaving Charley Steiner, as I told him, in middle relief. "That kind of makes you the Jon Garland of broadcasters," I suggested.
"Better than [Guillermo] Mota," said Steiner of the Dodgers relief pitcher who didn't make the playoff roster.
WE LEARNED how little regard Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa has for his bullpen, the tying run on second in the fifth with two out and letting Carpenter hit for himself.
Carpenter, a .175 hitter, had thrown 78 pitches and was getting hit hard by the Dodgers. He stayed in the game, struck out, returned to the mound for three more outs but gave up another run.
I have no idea how La Russa has made a living as a manager.
THREE HOURS before the game a Dodgers spokesman said the game wasn't sold out, but it would be. The top five or six rows in the right-field pavilion, though, remained empty.
A StubHub representative said the average Dodgers playoff ticket was selling for $74; a year ago for the Cubs and the chance to clinch the first round, the average ticket was going for $149. Apparently some people actually paid an average of $47 a ticket for the Kings opener.
The current average ticket selling price for the Angels playoff opener is $94, down from $103 with the Red Sox last year. By way of comparison, the average ticket for the U2 with Black Eyed Peas show this month is going for $185.
The Dodgers announced a sellout, apparently many of the folks in right field sitting on each others' laps.
AT THE top of the third, the Dodgers showed former "Game Over" closer Eric Gagne on the screen. Gagne got a rousing ovation, and obviously moved, he returned a two-handed kiss.
IMMEDIATELY AFTER Manny grounded into a double play, the Dodgers ran a commercial reminding kids that steroids are bad for your body. I wonder why they didn't run it after showing Gagne on the scoreboard.
(c) The Los Angeles Times.
Phillies clinch third straight NL East title
PHILADELPHIA --- Raul Ibanez belted a two-run homer a drove in three runs for the Philadelphia Phillies who captured their third straight National League East title by beating Houston 10-3.
Each of the eight starting players posted either a hit or an RBI, and the Phillies won their third consecutive division title for the second time in franchise history.
Philadelphia actually clinched moments before its win at Citizens Bank Park because of Atlanta's 5-4 loss to Florida.
The Phillies will now have an opportunity to defend their World Series title after claiming their second title in franchise history in five games over the Rays last season.
Philadelphia will start its National League division series next Wednesday.
Philadelphia now has the longest active streak in the National League for consecutive playoff berths.
Ibanez hit his 34th home run of the Major League Baseball season, Shane Victorino added his NL- leading 13th triple, and Pedro Feliz had two hits and an RBI for Philadelphia, who have won three of four overall.
Starting pitcher Pedro Martinez allowed three runs in four innings, while Kyle Kendrick (3-1) registered the win after three innings of relief.
(c) 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Imperfect Phillies lineup gets job done
MIAMI -- Charlie Manuel would love to have a perfect lineup, but perfection is hard to find in baseball.
"Baseball is hard," he said. "It's hard to hit. You can know what's coming and can't hit."
Fortunately for Manuel, the Phillies arguably have the best lineup in the National League, which he hopes serves them well in the 2009 postseason. They lead the National League in runs (756), doubles (293), home runs (211), RBIs (727), extra-base hits (533), total bases (2,310) and slugging percentage (.448). They are second in on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.783). And for all the talk about how the Phillies strike out too much, they rank eighth in the league in strikeouts (1,077).
The Phillies have a lineup that features six current and former All-Stars (Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez) and two former NL Most Valuable Players (Howard and Rollins). It features four players with 30 or more home runs -- just the 12th team in baseball history to accomplish the feat.
They have power, but they can run. The Phillies lead the league in stolen base percentage (82 percent) and are tied for second in the league in stolen bases (109).
"It's who we are," Manuel said. "We've got power, but we do have speed, especially at the top of the order. We've got Rollins, Victorino and Utley.
"Utley isn't as quick as the other two, but he's a very intelligent baseball player. He knows when to run. He has a good feel for the game. He studies the game. His stolen bases mean something. The top of our lineup is where our speed pays off, especially when Victorino and Rollins are getting on base.
"We don't bunt a lot because we can steal and we've got a lot of left-handed hitters in the lineup. If we play the game right we should be able to hit the hole at first base if they're holding the guy on. We should be able to pull the ball, if we play the game right."
But the Phillies offense can be maddening, too. They are just 11th in batting average (.257), 11th in hitting with runners in scoring position (.252) and 15th hitting with runners in scoring position with two outs (.215). The Phillies strike out in 20.9 percent of their total at-bats, but 23.1 percent with runners in scoring position, and 26.2 percent with runners in scoring position with two outs.
The Phillies simply have not been good with their situational hitting, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. That is true, and it could be costly in the playoffs. The Phillies were 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position in Games 1 and 2 of the 2008 World Series, but those are numbers the Phillies would not like to try to match again.
It all goes back to perfection in baseball. The Phillies still lead the National League in runs scored.
"You can cut it anyway you want, and I can talk all day about it, but at the end of the day production is where it counts," Manuel said.
Manuel offered an example of a .300 hitter who scores only 50 to 60 runs with only 50 to 60 RBIs.
"He hasn't done anything," Manuel said. "He should have done that, even if he's hitting ninth in the lineup. I've heard people say, 'Oh, he hit .300 last year.' And then you look and you see 50 runs scored with 40 RBIs. That isn't good.
"Now, if he scores 120 runs and knocked in 40 or 50? Then we're talking differently."
The Phillies score more runs via home runs than any other team in baseball, which some consider a problem.
They are just too reliant on the long ball.
"That's baseball," Manuel said. "They always look at the negative. But scoring runs is scoring runs. I've always thought we could hit better, and the more consistent we hit, we would hit more home runs. But that's how our offense sets up. If you look, Ibanez, Utley, Werth -- those guys have 30 homers. Howard has 40. That pretty much tells the story. Jimmy Rollins has 19. If a shortstop hits 25 homers in a season he's definitely considered a home-run hitter. That's kind of how we line up."
And until that perfect lineup comes along, Manuel will take it.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
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