After more than 40 days of effort, competence and making contact with the baseball, White Sox DH/1B Adam Dunn completed his Lenten promise to not suck for the entire religious season. Dunn had a strong spring training as he routinely made contact with the ball and cut down his swing a misses to about 10 a game, giving hope to the South Side.
With the Lent season carrying over from spring training to the first couple of games of the regular season Dunn was able to stay true to his religious promise by hitting a home run in the first game and proving to White Sox fans everywhere that he will in fact earn at least $10,000 of his $14 million contract this season.
However, Monday’s game against Cleveland marked the first post-Easter appearance for Dunn who quickly jumped back into his 2011 form as he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and three hours of ass-on-the-bench time.
Dunn explained the rationale and challenges of his Lent promise in an interview immediately following Monday’s game.
“It was a brutal six weeks and at times all I wanted to do was get that golden sombrero, said Dunn. “I really wanted to deprive myself of something for Lent this year so I thought of what I loved doing most. I couldn’t wait to start sucking again, and since I gave it up for a short time, I feel much better about it this year. Last year I gave up cupcakes and beer for Lent, and as many of you know that became my pregame meal almost every game. I will try not to over-indulge in the sucking now that Lent is over, but I know that will be a near impossible task.”
When reports began asking follow-up questions Dunn returned to his 2011 form as he stood motionless as questions were fired by him, and sat down after the third uncontested question.
