How To Be Comeback Player of the Year

AL Comeback Player of the year. Joe Nathan? Nope. Kendrys Morales? Negative. Fernando Rodney won the MLB's voting and Adam Dunn took home the Sporting News' hardware. Of which, neither player actually had to "comeback" from, well, anything.

Let's start with Fernando Rodney who also won the Fireman of the Year award. Rodney was as lights out as you could possibly be this year. posting a 0.77 ERA and converting 48 of 48 save opportunities. This season was a far cry from the previous two seasons he spent in Anaheim, the last of which he was relegated to mop up duty. However, that is where it should end. Reliever of the Year. All he had to come back from after the last two years was just being bad at baseball, but he did have an amazing year, so I'll buy it.

Adam Dunn on the other hand, has absolutely no business winning the Sporting News' Comeback Player of the Year award. Dunn was terrible in his first season with the White Sox last year posting a .159/.292/.277 slash line. Somewhere, Mario Mendoza is laughing at you Adam. Adam Dunn's 2012 line, .204/.333/.468 with 41 HR and 96 RBI's. Damn you RBI's. Shiny counting stats win again. Apparently the voters failed to notice that the Big Donkey led the league in strikeouts with 222 (which is also his career high). For contrast, Kendrys Morlaes' slash line was .273/.320/.467. Oh yeah, and Morales had to come back from a career threatening leg injury, not that that matters or anything. 

At least the National League voters got it right with Buster Posey taking home both the MLB and Sporting News awards. After getting nuked at the plate last year, some didn't think he could come back as a catcher. Not only did he come back as a catcher, but he is also right in the thick of the MVP race in the NL. Well done Buster, well done. It's just too bad the two different players won in the AL who did not embody the idea of overcoming adversity to actually come back. 

My prediction for next year; Justin Smoak in the AL, because Jacoby Ellsbury set the "Coming back while still arbitration eligible" precedent. Xavier Nady in the NL, because someone has to actually deserve it.

Adam Dunn Doesn't Care About Batting Average

Adam Dunn is the poster child (poster man?) for the Three True Outcomes. The Three True Outcomes are a hit, walk and a home run since it takes defense out of the equation. Three True Outcomes is also the name of my Norwegian-metal garage band. My point is, though, Dunn doesn't mind if his .226 batting average qualifies for the bottom 25 in all of baseball. Dunn is actually rebounding nicely from his nightmare 2011 that saw him hit 11 home runs and an appalling .159/.292/.277 slash line. Jeff Mathis nods in approval.

Dunn has already mashed 20 homers and a .226/.369/.557 line this season which is much more in line with his career .243/.374/.505 numbers. ZiPS even has him projected to hit his regular 40 homers again. Batting average just isn't something high on his list of priorities...

"Honestly, I really don't look at batting average," Dunn said. "I know my job is to drive in runs and get on base and things of that nature. I don't care how I get on. I mean, whatever: Walk, hit, I don't care. But it's down at the bottom."

Dunn adds a negative value on defense so his work with the stick is why he gets paid. His atrocious 2011 had White Sox fans and many family members worried. While I'm amazed a team still lets Dunn own a glove, -1.3 UZR in 177.0 innings at 1B, -0.7 UZR in 2.0 innings in LF, suspect defense at DH, he is getting pay checks to hit for power and take pitches, which he leads the AL in with 4.49 pitches seen per plate appearance...

"Every year I was kind of up there in that," said Dunn of the pitches-viewed category. "It goes back to having my approach that is good and bad. Obviously, you want to get the starter out of there as quick as possible, so the more pitches you can see early in a game, the better."

And it's working for him. Dunn has lapped his 2011 fWAR (Fangraphs wins above replacement) but that was kinda easy considering he was worth -2.9 wins last year. Dunn is sitting at 1.5 fWAR this season.

Suck on that, batting average.

I Looked at the 2001 NL ROY Voting for a While Today

The 2001 NL Rookie of the Year voting will be remembered for....wait, do people remember rookie of the year voting?

Let me start over.

Some people voted for the top five rookies in the National League in 2001 and Albert Pujols won unanimously after putting together one of the most ridiculous rookie seasons ever-.329/.403/.610, 37 HR, 6.9 WAR. Pujols has gone on to a certain Hall of Fame career, and three of the four players who finished behind him in the voting-Roy Oswalt, Jimmy Rollins and Adam Dunn-have put together really good careers themselves. Also, Bud Smith received votes.

Here's a look at the top five.


1st - Pujols

Not much else needs to be said about the St. Louis first baseman, so I'll pick something at random. At baseballreference.com they have the following players as the top seven 'similar to Pujols through age 30':

Jimmie Foxx
Frank Robinson
Ken Griffey Jr.
Lou Gehrig
Hank Aaron
Mickey Mantle
Mel Ott

Talk about associating yourself with a bunch of losers.

2nd - Oswalt

The former Astro has been one of the better pitchers in the NL since his excellent rookie season in '01-2.73 ERA, 144 K-24 BB IN 141 2/3 IP. Oswalt collected 143 wins with Houston and had a great 2005 NLCS against the Cards before struggling in his only Series start against the Whitesox. Houston traded Oswalt to Philadelphia mid-way through the 2010 season for two minor leaguers and J.A. Happ, who should not be confused as a major leaguer. According to baseballreference, Oswalt's nickname is 'Wizard of Os'. Anyone who can confirm this nonsense, please email confirmingnonsense@offbasepercentage.com.

3rd - Rollins

This was the first of two J.R.C.O's (Jimmy Rollins? Come On!) votes. See: MVP, 2007. Rollins was a 22-year old shortstop for the Phillies and he led the league in triples (12) and stolen bases (46), but his percentages were mediocre-.274/.323/.419. I guess he gained some points because his name was Jimmy. People love guys named Jimmy.

T-4th - Dunn

Much has been made of Dunn's horrendous, Derwood-on-the-JV-team-like 2011 season with the Palehose, and it's been really bad (57 OPS+, -2.4 WAR), but he burst onto the scene in 2001 with excellent numbers-.371 on-base percentage, .578 slugging, 19 home runs in just 286 plate appearances. Dunn would go on to club 335 more home runs over the next nine seasons with Cincinnati, Arizona and Washington before this season's debacle on the South Side.

T-4th - Smith

Oh yes, it's Bud Smith. The Cardinals' answer to the question: who the hell is Bud Smith?

A: it's that guy, right over there. THAT'S Bud Smith!

I was all ready to make a bunch of Bud Smith jokes until I looked at his appearances in 2001 and realized in only three of his 14 starts did he give up more than three earned runs. He also pitched a complete game, shut out against San Diego September 3. You know who finished up that game for the Padres? Rookie Wascar Serrano.


Official Offbase 2001 NL ROY voting

1. Albert Pujols
2. Roy Oswalt
3. Adam Dunn
4. Bud Smith
5. Jimmy Rollins
6. Wascar Serrano

Adam Dunn Realizes He's Awful

Adam Dunn has spent the past two games watching the White Sox from the bench as baseball's version of a healthy scratch. While it was two of his better games in July, it gave him some time to reflect on his regrettable season. Despite owning Dunn in fantasy baseball, this is becoming one of my favorite stories of the year. Dunn, one of MLB's most consistent power hitters for 10 years, mysteriously turned into the little league kid who swings with his eyes closed.

Dunn's .158/.289/.299 line is embarrassingly the lowest of his otherwise underrated career. How bad has it gotten for Dunn? His .273 wOBA (weighted On Base Average) is the exact same as uber bust Brandon Wood. (Sorry to pick on you, Brandon. I'll still root for you when you're a Yuma Scorpion next year.) At least Dunn realizes he's a shell of the shell of his former self and even talked retirement with Yahoo! Sports...

“Flat out. I’ll go home. I mean that. Swear to goodness. I’ll. Go. Home. I enjoy playing. Even though I suck. Or have been sucking. I enjoy playing the game. Love it. But as soon as I lose that, I’m gone, dude. It’s true."

snip

“How many games can you play doing this? This is ridiculous."

But Sox GM Kenny Williams shouldn't be expecting a check for the rest of Dunn's $56 million contract in the mail anytime soon. Dunn may acknowledge his suckitude and talk a good game about quitting but that doesn't mean he's actually going to...

“It’s not going to happen,” he says. “Zero chance. Zero. You can’t get this competition anywhere else, dude. I don’t care where you look. Nowhere else. It’s one-on-one, dude. And you can’t find that anywhere."

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Adam, but what you're doing right now doesn't count as competition. I'd suggest taking up ping pong but with your recent struggles making contact with a ball maybe you'd be better served joining a Skee Ball league. I hear those dudes are getting pretty serious plus with enough tickets you can get a sweet mustache comb.

Ozzie Guillen Won't Protect Adam Dunn

White Sox manager/crazy person Ozzie Guillen doesn't need or use stats to fill out a lineup card and, for that, Juan Pierre thanks him. Guillen also doesn't care if a player might break the single season strikeout mark as long as that player isn't hurting the team. So Guillen won't sit Adam Dunn and his .160/.290/.302 line. Wait, what?

"I will sit him down if he's not helping the ballclub, but not because of a mark," Guillen said Sunday. "Not at all, no. (If) we need him to take a break and give somebody a chance, I will do it.

snip

"(But) I just worry about putting the best guys out there every time," Guillen said.

"Every time Dunn or (Alex) Rios is there, I feel like they have a chance. But it's not what I feel. It's how they feel."

Dunn has crossed the Godfather III threshold into the "made a donation in your name present" territory on the chart of disappointment this season. Dunn is having the worst year of his career and it's not even close. His strikeout rate is the highest of his career at 36.4% and his .274 wOBA is 79 points worse than his previous low. Even removing most of his atrocious defense by DHing and playing a little fist base, Dunn is still putting up a -1.6 WAR which, by definition, means he's worse than a replacement level player.

But, Ozzie keeps running him out there and hoping for the best. So far this season, the "best" is 1-4 with three strikeouts. The strikeouts are piling up (122 in 335 plate appearances) but he is still a long way from Mark Reynolds magical 223 strikeout record season of 2009. Fangraphs ZiPS is projecting 81 strikeouts for the rest of the season leaving Dunn with a mere 203. Of course, those projections don't have Dunn accumulating over 600 plate appearances so maybe they were nervous about Guillen pulling the plug on Dunn's terribleness. Silly projections.

Adam Dunn's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Adam Dunn picked up his second golden sombrero of the year a mere five days after wearing his first. Dunn has been awful this season and that's probably being too generous. He leads baseball in strikeouts and there are only 14 qualified players with a worse WAR. His .186/.314/.346 line gets the old Brandon Wood nod of approval. Let's check out Dunn's day at the dish...

Top 1st: Dunn struck out looking against Brandon Morrow. Morrow walked Juan Pierre on four pitches to open the inning which I didn't realize was physically possible.

Top 4th: Dunn struck out swinging against Morrow.

Top 6th: Dunn struck out swinging against Morrow.

Top 8th: Dunn struck out swinging against Mark Rzepczynski.

Yikes. I wonder if he's even making contact during BP.

Adam Dunn's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

I'm more than willing to take the blame on Adam Dunn stinking up Chicago and most other ballparks this season. See, this is the first year I've ever drafted/owned Dunn in a fantasy league and I clearly ruined his career just like Madonna ruined Guy Ritchie. I was depending on him to boost my OBP and be my source of power. But with 4 homers and a .190/.308/.345 line, Dunn is a long way from his career averages. Of the Three True Outcomes, the only one Dunn still seems good at is striking out. And he put that on display Saturday. So grab a shot of tequila, it's sombrero time...

Bottom 1st: Dunn struck out swinging against Jon Garland. That's the same Jon Garland who has 24 strikeouts in 41.2 innings, so...

Bottom 3rd: Dunn struck out swinging against Garland again. Come on. You're kidding, right?

Bottom 4th: Dunn walked in an attempt to be at least a Two True Outcomes player. Just not in the Jose Bautista "home run or walk" way.

Bottom 6th: Dunn struck out swinging against Ramon Troncoso. Three pitches.

Bottom 8th: Dunn struck out looking against Lance Cormier. Three pitches.

The good news for Sox fans is that Gordan Beckham went 2-3 with a walk to improve his slash line to mostly terrible for the season.

Ozzie Guillen Will Keep Bunting Thank You

Master strategist, White Sox manager and occasional English-speaker, Ozzie Guillen, recently made it clear that he is a fan of the bunt. And why shouldn't he be? It's a near automatic out (unless it's craftily deployed against the shift) but it did help Jake Taylor fictionally win the pennant for the Indians circa 1989. In the past week, the Ozzies have bunted into a triple play and killed a four-run inning by bunting into a force out. But Ozzie is steadfast in his belief in the Tao of the bunt...

"Listen, I grew up bunting," Guillen said Thursday. "My baseball game is bunting. We win a lot of games bunting. I will stay with them. The guys who can bunt, I will bunt them. We hit a lot of double-play balls because we're not that fast. That's why I will take advantage of that."

Did he just say they win a lot of games bunting? Now I know where Oney gets his delusion from. The apple doesn't fall far from the crazy plant. Luckily, I'm not a White Sox fan but I do love Ozzie because he seems mentally unstable.

The bunt, especially the sac bunt, are usually a terrible waste of an out. Bunting Adam Dunn every once in a while to beat the shift? Brilliant. But I don't have that much faith in Ozzie. Also, can we stop praising Ron Gardenhire as a great manager? If he sac bunts in the first inning of a playoff game again, I'll... Probably just blog about it. I thought I had something more threatening there for a minute.

Kenny Williams Got It Dunn

Hey, I could write headlines for ESPN with that kind of gold.

Adam Dunn finally got his big boy contract today when Kenny Williams offered up 56 million White Sox bucks over four years. Dunn was looking for a fat cash contract during his free agent adventure two years ago but only managed to get a two-year, $20 million deal from the Nationals after being non-tendered by the Diamondbacks. Oddly enough, he posted a slightly worse season this year but still managed to score the monster deal. I have some theories as to why. They might be obvious and you've probably already read them elsewhere today but I'm lazy and everybody loves lists. Right?

1. Kenny Williams is a free spending lunatic.
He traded for the bloated contract of the already declining Jake Peavy. They're still on the hook for $37 million after they buy out 2013. Then Williams picked up Alex Rios' silly contract which will pay out $51 million over the next four years. And to top it off he's going to pay Juan Pierre $8.5 million next year instead of the box of movie theater nachos he's actually worth. All of that not-his cash just burns a hole in Kenny Williams' pocket.

2. Adam Dunn is a force at the plate.
Dunn has hit 38 or more home runs for seven consecutive seasons. Over those seasons, this was the first time he didn't have an OBP over .360. He slugged under .510 once over that time frame. Sure he's going to strikeout 150+ times per year but he's also going to lead the White Sox in walks every season too.

3. Dunn fills a need.
The White Sox got a pathetic .247/.332/.396 line from their DH spot in 2010 thanks to the likes of Mark Kotsay. Dunn should thrive in US Cellular Field or whatever the hell the White Sox stadium is named now. The south side park is hitter friendly and Dunn should get back to his 40 homers per year after only hitting 38 each of the past two seasons.

4. Dunn is more valuable when not wearing leather.
Defensive metrics are still far from a perfect measuring stick especially at first base. But I watched some Nationals games last year and they would have been better off sticking a glove on a traffic cone and sitting it against first base than playing Dunn there. With Dunn spending most of his time at DH instead of in the field, he won't have to hit 80 home runs to make up for his defensive craptitude.

5. The White Sox had to outbid, um, the A's.
Adam Dunn in his early prime was Billy Bean's wet dream of a player. Dunn is the definition of the three true outcome player. He's either hitting a homer, walking or striking out. He used to be undervalued too. With the Tigers signing Victor Martinez, that left the A's as, seemingly, the main competition for Dunn's services. But the A's were never going to offer a contract anywhere close to what the White Sox offered. Which brings us full circle back to theory number one.

I don't mind the deal because I'm not a White Sox fan and, even if I was, it's not my money. I do plan on watching a lot more White Sox home games though. Dunn is going to blast some homers out of that park. Obviously, I'll have to watch the games on mute because Hawk Harrelson makes me want to throw my TV out of a window.

Is Derwood Headed to a NASCAR race?

A little over a month ago I examined three potential triple crown candidates: Josh Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto. While Hamilton looks to be on his way to a batting title, Jose Bautista has a healthy lead in the HR race (38 to Cabrera's 31 and Hamilton's 28), and the Detroit behemoth leads the AL with 102 RBIs to Hamilton's 88. So we can probably count those two out. Votto is another story.

Back in my July 15 piece, I said if Votto wins the NL triple crown, I'll watch five minutes of a NASCAR race. That was my promise to the Offbase readers, but I thought I was safe. I certainly never thought the jerk would be so close in all three categories on August 23. I still don't think he's going to win it, so I'm raising the stakes: if Joey Votto wins the NL triple crown, I'll ATTEND a NASCAR race.

Derwood's head: "Don't press PUBLISH", don't press PUBLISH", "don't press PUBLISH..."



Votto leads the NL with a .323 average, currently five points better than Atlanta's Martin Prado. Standing in his way in the other two categories is that loser Albert Pujols, who is finally putting together a decent season for the Cardinals. Pujols has a 32-29 lead over Votto in HR (Washington's Adam Dunn is second with 31), and an 89-86 cushion in RBIs. It's basicaly Pujols vs. Votto, and with about 40 games left, I could easily see happen any of the following:

1. Pujols takes off in all three places (he's also fourth in average at .316)
2. Dunn hits a ton of home runs and leaves Pujols and Votto behind
3. Joey Votto wins the 2010 triple crown, forcing me to go Murfreesboro, TN for the Premium Select Rye Bread 500

In other words, I really want Adam Dunn to hit a lot of home runs over the next month.

Shot Of The Night: Adam Dunn Edition

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Look at me writing shot of the night on the actual night it was due. It's almost like I'm a responsible blogger. The shot of the night is Get 'er Done: 1 oz Grey Goose® vodka, 6 drops grenadine syrup, 1 can Squirt® citrus soda and it's in honor of Adam Dunn. Normally, I'd avoid any Larry the Cable Guy references because he's a hack and doesn't deserve the obscene amount of money he makes. But it fits my shot criteria. I beg you America to improve your taste in comedy. Please watch Louie on FX. Louie CK and Patton Oswalt are the best in the comedy game right now but I digress.

Adam Dunn hit another pair of home runs for the second time in three games. The two blasts give Dunn at least 30 homers for the 7th straight season and improved him to a .280/.369/.590 slash line. I'm starting to think the Nats were the team that had placed the proper value on Dunn when the trade deadline rolled around. Although, they did place him on waivers and he was claimed by an unknown, and most likely, National League club. I can't see him getting dealt with the current insane hot streak and I'm hoping the Nats can extend him. Because of course, I've jumped on the Nationals' bandwagon and would like to see him continue to mash while playing sub par defense at first base.

Honorable Mention: Adam Wainwright and Albert Pujols
The Cardinals duo put the hurt on the Marlins. Wainwright pitched a 2-hit shutout while striking out 7 and Pujols went 3-5 with a home run driving in 4 of the Cardinals 7 runs. Pujols is now 1st in RBI (82), and yes I know that's a worthless stat, and 2nd in homers (28) after the aforementioned Dunn. Wainwright is 2nd in wins (16), and yes I know that's a worthless stat, and 2nd in ERA (2.07). If you let my "mainstream stats" go for this post, I promise I'll get back to xFIP and wOBA tomorrow. Thanks, gotta go watch some recorded Shark Week.

Shot Of The Night: Milestone Edition

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Shot of the night is late because I fell asleep last night watching a recorded episode of Shark Week and took my grandpa out to lunch for his 87th birthday today. He's an old school Orioles fan. Even though it's his birthday, I hope Dan Haren shuts out the O's tonight so he'll get off my back. He talks a surprising amount of smack for being close to 90. The shot of the night was a Gold Record: 1 oz gold tequila, 1 splash lime juice, fill with orange juice and it's in honor of Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod finally hit home run number 600, three years to the day that he hit 500. Finally the long national nightmare is over. I'm actually a big A-Rod fan despite the steroids, the Yankees, the cheating on his wife, the Madonna thing, the centaur painting and whatever this was. A-Rod becomes the youngest player ever to hit 600 home runs and despite a poor season for him, remains on track to become the all time home run king. I'm going to enjoy the chase even though my Barry Bonds arguments about him being top 3 of all time have actually ended relationships. Sorry ladies. A-Rod joins an elite group of 7 hitters ever to reach 600 career homer. Next milestone, Sammy Sosa at 609.

Honorable Mention: Adam Dunn
Dunn went 3-5 with 2 more home runs. That give Dunn 28 for the season and a reasonable amount of time to get to 40. Between 2005 and 2008, Dunn hit exactly 40 home runs for 4 consecutive seasons. Dunn, I think, is still undervalued and his WAR supports that. UZR has some pretty mean things to say about his fielding. But as far as hitting goes, he's the ultimate 3 true outcome player and pretty valuable.

Adam Dunn's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

I'm a pretty big Adam Dunn fan. I was hoping the Angels would make a run for him but after that Callaspo trade, I can't see they could manage to add anymore power. Dunn doesn't really fit the Scioscia player profile. Dunn is your 3 True Outcome player. He's pretty much either going to hit a home run, walk or strikeout. Last night was no different as Dunn went 1-5 with a home run and 4 strikeouts. I can't put how that makes me feel into words so here...



Delightful. Now let's check out Dunn's strikeouts so I can move on to the next guy. The Summer of Strikeouts is relentless this week.

Top 1st: Dunn struck out swinging against Edinson Volquez. But the Nats did score 1 one in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd and 3 in the 3rd.

Top 5th: Dunn struck out swinging against Carlos Fisher.

Top 7th: Dunn struck out swinging against Bill Bray. Anytime I hear Bill Bray I think of this...



Top 9th: Dunn struck out swinging against Nick Masset.

Well played, Dunn. Four strikeouts against four different pitcher, all swinging, and a home run for good measure.

Shot Of The Night

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Tonight's shot of the night is a National Cocktail: 2 oz rum, 3 dashes apricot brandy, 1/2 oz pineapple juice, 3 dashes lime juice. Sure it's a drink instead of a shot but I'm working of a theme here. Just drink it fast. It's in honor of Adam Dunn who has been getting plenty of love from this segment recently.

Dunn went 3-4 with 2 more home runs and 3 RBI raising his slash line to .285/.370/.593. The 30-year-old could be quite the trade bait this season if the Nats don't decide to lock him up long term. Which probably isn't a bad idea. More importantly, he provided some much needed offense for Sir Stephen Strasburg. In fact, in the last shot of the night when Dunn hit 3 home runs, I joked...

When reached for comment, Stephen Strasburg said, "Couldn't you save like one of those home runs for my start?"

Turns out Dunn wasn't all out of power yet, which leads me to...

Honorable Mention: Stephen Strasburg
I've been Internet free (which makes me surprisingly shaky) so not only did I not preview the Strasburg start but I missed the entire thing. Miss me on Twitter? Anyway, Strasburg rebounded from a couple of less than Hall of Fame starts to get his 3rd career win. Only 509 to go! Strasburg went 6 strong giving up 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 earned. He also struck out another 8. But I'm sure Evan Meek will be every bit as exciting in the ASG.

I'll catch up on some posts for you guys tomorrow, including any missed Sombreros.

Shot Of The Night

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Tonight's shot of the night is a Home Run: 1 part(s) Vodka, 1 part(s) Triple Sec, 1 part(s) Lime Juice, 1 shot(s) Jagermeister, 1 shot(s) Goldschlager, 1 shot(s) Whiskey. Mix the first 3 to make a Kamikaze. Then set the 4 shots up as they were bases in baseball. First base is the Kamikaze, second is Jagermeister, third is the Goldschlager and the Home Run is the House Whiskey. Welcome to the club! Vomit. Yeah, that's a rough 4 shots but I had to break out the big guns tonight. The shots of the night are in honor of Adam Dunn and Buster Posey.

I'll give Dunn the top billing tonight but you couldn't go wrong either way. Dunn went 3-4 with 3 home runs and 5 RBI. It's a good thing he's not in the Home Run Derby. Instead of Dunn for the competition, I say we plug in Omar Infante and see how many infield singles he can hit in the Home Run Derby. Everybody loves a scrappy utility player, right Bud? When reached for comment, Stephen Strasburg said, "Couldn't you save like one of those home runs for my start?"

Buster Posey shares top honors tonight going 4-4 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. Posey's 2 homers gives him (5) more than Mauer (4) in about 150 less at bats. Which begs the age old question, Bengie Molina?

Update: This post was severely delayed by the spotty Internet service I get in Baton Rouge. Come on neighbors' unprotected Wi-Fi, get your act together.