He's hitting .203 as I write this. He's tallied 6 home runs and 19 RBI. After the season didn't start how he expected it to, he's frustrated and beyond the stage of pressing and into the stage of no longer caring.
He's been my favorite player and probably athlete of all-time for what seems like a lifetime. Nothing will ever change that. However, I see a change in this player I've studied so closely over the past 8 seasons.
Adam Dunn; to me, looks like a player who generally is ready to move on. He looks like he's had it with the fans making him the scapegoat (right or wrong), and he's had it with the losing right on the border of the Ohio River.
While I think he's lost the support of a high percentage of the fans around Cincinnati (and my how things have changed, I remember people comparing him to Teddy Ballgame in 2002 when he hit .300 through the All-Star break), Dunn has been an easy target because he's been a fixture on a ballclub that has done nothing consistently but lose since his tenure began here. So who's left to blame? He's played under 2 different owners, four managers, four general managers. A plethora of different teammates ran in and out. His best friend was traded.
Dunn has just seen things run their course and come to a head. I know when this season started he really believed everything was going to come together. He thought he was going to be part of a winning team and have a career changing season in route to earning a long-term contract. I think he genuinely expected a culmination at this fork in the road in his career. It hasn't happened and chances are slim that it does happen that way now.
So mentally Dunn is shrugging his shoulders. He just reads to me as a guy who has said 'I've given what I believe to be my best to make things work here. I go out everyday and play hard. I do what I can do and nothing changes. Whatever happens, happens.'
There's been times before when I thought that maybe the Reds would part with Adam Dunn, but for the first time ever I think that both sides might just want to seperate. The organizaton, the player, and the fans all want the same thing here. It's a weird feeling. This isn't Dunn's team anymore, although it's no one's team; somehow things all went wrong here. It is hard to watch but at the same time when one door closes another opens. Dunn's term ending here in Cincinnati will be one of the hardest things I've ever came to grips with as a fan. The only thing giving it a little silver lining will be Jay Bruce's arrival as the patron baseball saint to save Cincinnati. Like when Old Yeller died but had a son who was just as good as the real Old Yeller.
The writing is on the wall in this one. It's a matter of time until Adam Dunn has a new home, and you watch: when he does, he will go on a sudden and unexplainable tear.
If you know this quote, maybe you can understand it's place in this post. It just fits.
Sorry boys. All the stitches in the world cant sew me together again.
Lay down , lay down.
Gonna stretch me out at Fernandez Funeral Home on 109th street.
Always knew I'd make a stop there; but alot later than a whole gang o people thought.
.. last of the mo'ricans well maybe not the last.
Gail's gonna be a good mom a new improved Carlito Brigante.
Hope she uses the money to get out, no room in ths city for big hearts like hers.
Sorry baby. I tried the best I could, honest.
Cant come with me on this trip though.
Gettin the shakes now, last call for drinks, bars closin down, suns out.
Where we goin for breakfast? Dont wanna go far. Rough night. Tired baby, tired.
It was the Cincinnati Reds first 6-0 homestand since 1995. They've now won 7 in a row at Great American Ball Park, a stadium record. Adam Dunn hit another towering home run to the Sun Deck in right field; which was his 4th straight game and 10th round-tripper on the season (248 over the course of his career). 
