Dave Miley has asked Adam Dunn to steal more bases this year. So sayeth McCoy. McCoy notes that Dunn stole 19 in ’02, but 8 and 6 in the last two years. He was nearly perfect, though (6 for 7 and 8 for 10).
“They didn’t have to tell me, I planned to do it,” said Dunn. “I got lazy, but I’m bringing it back into my game. I’m going to steal 25-plus and I’ll be working this spring on getting jumps.”
In related news, McCoy reports that O’Brien told Felipe Lopez (1 steal in ’04) that he (Lopez, not O’Brien) also needs to run more.
Finally, the first of this year’s Dunn Funnies. Everything he does makes me laugh, but a line I liked. Dunn advising LaRue’s about the latter’s 20 HBP in both ’03 and ’04: “I have an idea. Get out of the way.”
We need to catalog these funny lines by Dunn. They guy is hilarious.
I’m not opposed to Dunn stealing more at all. I don’t want him stealing at will, or a lot, but he’s enough of an athlete he could do more.
I hadn’t noticed that Lopez only had one steal last year. There’s no reason for that; may be another example of Lopez not really studying the game?