Reading Room: Nothing Dunns like a Deer

As Adam Dunn's season drags its bloody, broken lower half towards the finish line, one name has joined him for the ride: Rob Deer.

Deer holds the record for the lowest qualifying batting average in big-league history with his .179 average in 1991, and Dunn appears to be set to break that record -- if he gets enough plate appearances the rest of the season. With Dayan Viciedo on the verge of taking ownership of the DH role, Dunn might fall short of qualifying.

Chuck Garfien talked to Deer, and the resulting article is recommended reading. An excerpt:

"As soon as I’d get to .199, I’d look up and bam! I’d go 0 for 3 and have to rebuild it.  That became the whole cornerstone of my season," Deer said. "I’d get to the stadium and I’d look up there at the scoreboard and say, ‘If I could just get to .200,’ and then bam! Something would happen. It plays with your mind. I feel for Adam Dunn because I know he’s such a great guy and well-respected player."

To get out of his slump, Dunn has tried just about everything, and as Deer explained, he’s probably heard everything too.

"You sometimes find yourself walking in the parking garage and listening to the parking attendant giving you directions on how to hit, or the guy running the elevator. You’re so vulnerable, you’ll listen to anything. That’s usually where we get ourselves in trouble," Deer said.

The good news is that Deer didn't let .179 drag him down. He came back to post the finest season of his career in 1992, thanks to some offseason consulting by ... wait for it .. Walt Hriniak.

A/V Room

• PK2K ticket offer - whitesox.com
  

Since many people here -- me included -- often raise the issue of overpriced tickets, it's only fair to note that the Sox have slashed some lower-bowl tickets for the next two games against the Twins. Outfield seats normally priced at $41 are going for $20, with Paul Konerko's 2,000th hit serving as the motivation.

• No reason to deal undervalued Floyd - whitesox

The Sox are in a good position with Gavin Floyd, who is paid appropriately, but perfectly tradeable, too. But given prior rumors involving Floyd, J.J. thinks that he's naturally underestimated, and so it's tough to get a suitable return.

• Boers & Bernstein (starting around 18:20)
• McNeil & Spiegel (starting around 29:30)

While a few of the beat writers continue to use Dayan Viciedo's promotion to discover old Chuck Norris jokes, the Score is actually asking real questions. Kinda scary when you get a better big picture perspective from sports radio. At any rate, in the first clip, guest host Laurence Holmes says, "I'm sick of having to wonder who's got motive to not do their job." In the second, Brett Ballantini mentions Viciedo's service time, which is neat.

Dunn dragged down White Sox for too long - ESPN Chicago

Jon Greenberg writes about the post-Dunn White Sox, which includes some interesting quotes from Ozzie Guillen -- that he likes to play kids, and he would prefer if they all came up in the same organization. He also notes what others aren't when discussing earlier Viciedo avenues -- while Juan Pierre is safe now, his all-around terrible play over the first two months helped dig a hole for the Sox.

And finally, I laughed when I saw this, because this is basically the first tweet a CowleyBot program would spit out: