20th of the season

I didn't post after the St. Louis series, a series which the Reds swept to put them in a tie for first in the National League Central Division. Dunn did not play much of a part in the victories, only getting hits in one game. Those hits did include a home run off of Josh Hancock.

The Reds then had a four game set against the Cubs which was my main motivation for not posting. The series before was against the Cubs as well. Yahoo! Sports highlighted Dunn in their matchups to watch section for the first game of the series. As readers of this space know, Dunn loves to face Glendon Rusch, the game one starter. Dunn entered the game with a career .500 average against Rusch with six homers. Rusch was pounded, leacing in the fourth inning, but Dunn did get a hit off of him. The rest of the Reds did, extending their winning streak to eight games.

A three-game losing streak commenced but Dunn did finagle a pair of homers during the trio. Greg Maddux gave up his fourth career home run to Dunn and Scott Eyre was touched by Dunn for the second time in two weeks. The home run off Eyre was the 20th of the season for Dunn and is the second earliest point in the season that Dunn has reached 20.

In 2003, Dunn hit his 20th homer on June 7th. He only hit seven more before missing the rest of the season with an injury.

Of Dunn's 20 homers this season, seven have come against the Cubs, four against the Cardinals, a pair versus the Tigers and one each coming off pitchers from the Pirates, Brewers, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Marlins and Astros.