Shawon Dunston has become the incredible walking man. But the more he has walked, the less he has hit.
Dunston has walked seven times in 90 plate appearances, an astonishing rate for a man who walked 15 times in 573 plate appearances a year ago.
But Dunston is hitting only .207. And he`s starting to wonder about whether he`s taking too many pitches.
”I`m telling myself I would like to take more,” Dunston said. ”I wanted to see some 2-0 pitches. (But) I think I`m going to go back up there and just swing.”
Manager Don Zimmer said he doesn`t think Dunston has become too conservative.
”He isn`t hitting anything, that`s all,” Zimmer said. ”He had one stretch where he hit a lot of balls good but for outs.”
Dunston broke an 0-for-13 slump with a single in Sunday`s sixth inning. But he was thrown out trying to stretch the hit against right-fielder Dave Justice, who had misplayed the ball. He struck out his other three trips, though he reached first base in the eighth when catcher Mike Heath missed the third strike. Dunston quickly stole his seventh base, putting him on a pace for a career-high 45 steals.
What a relief: Cubs relievers have allowed four runs in 23 innings over the last eight games. They`ve given up nine hits and four walks while fanning 19 during that stretch.
A big reason is the success of lefties Chuck McElroy and Paul Assenmacher.
McElroy, who earned his first major-league victory Sunday, gave up a run- scoring infield single to Justice, the first hit he has allowed a left-handed opponent in 17 at-bats.
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”He`s done everything you could ask of a man,” Zimmer said.
And lefties are batting .077 (2 for 26) against Assenmacher.
Jo-o-o-dy, Jo-o-o-dy: Rick Sutcliffe visited with old friend Jody Davis, his catcher the year he won the Cy Young Award. Davis, who lives nearby, tried to talk Sutcliffe into going with him to a car race Sunday afternoon.
Put on your hitting shoes: Greg Maddux scanned the stat sheet before Sunday`s game and saw that Cubs pitchers had 10 hits in their first 52 at-bats.
”What`s that, about .190?” Maddux said. ”We`ve fallen below the hitters.” The Cubs came into Sunday afternoon with a .235 team average.