• Listen to the audio while you read...
(ed. note - "I summed up the questions briefly, with all apologies to the bloggers who asked them because it was the answers that are of interest, and I can't identify all the various bloggers' voices...the answers are verbatim from the audio I recorded...")
Adam Dunn:
Q: What's The Biggest Thing That's Surprised You About DC?
"What's surprised me is not good. It's how we played. That, that surprises me."
Ryan Zimmerman:
Q: Three-game win streak?
"I think we've played defense and pitched well, I think that's what you have to do to win, and if we continue to do that, I think, we can play good for the rest of the season. We, uh, you know we made some errors last night. But, I mean overall the last week or two we've played some good defense and made the plays when we've needed to."
Ryan Zimmerman:
Q: Young pitchers? How gratifying is it to see others behind you come up?
"Great. I think, having young starting pitchers that are doing so well at such a young age, I think, uh, starting pitching is hardest thing to go out and get, and obviously the most expensive thing to go out and get, so for them to, you know, show what they've done, and know that you have them here for at least four or five or six years, without having to go out and get anybody I think is a big part of us getting better in the future."
Adam Dunn and Nick Johnson:
Q: Strike zone command and plate discipline. A lot of people talk about it being patience, but I think it's a skill, what allows you two in particular to do be able to lay off bad pitches and swing at only the pitches you want, not chase? (ed. note - "So you understand the humor here, Nick Johnson said he was just here to watch, wouldn't be fielding questions, so of course Mr. Dunn starts...")
Adam Dunn:
"Nick?"
Nick Johnson:
"Well it goes back and forth for me sometimes...We talk about it, you see(?) patient you know, and uh, I don't mind it if uh, my lower half's good, but uh,(laughter)...if my lower half of my swing, is uh...they'll talk, I'm done, Dunn's messing me up..."
Adam Dunn:
"Ohhh God. I don't know, I mean, I really don't how...I mean...it's, sometimes it's really good and sometimes it's bad, um, I think sometimes, I think what Nick was trying to say, was, uh, you know we're too patient sometimes, I think we get pitches early in the count and, you know, we don't take advantage of it and then we have to hit their pitch and therefore I strike out 200 times, so, um, but you know, that's something I'm trying to work on, is when I do get a good pitch early in the count, you know, walks are good, but there's a lot times where you have a lot of bad walks, and, uh, what I mean by that is you get, you know, you'll get a pitch to hit early in the count with, you know, guys in scoring position or something and you take it but, yet you get a walk, but, you know to me that's a bad walk, so, uh, you know, it is good, but it's again, it's, I mean, basically take the good with the bad, I don't, I wouldn't sit here and say I like walking, but it just happens..."
Q: I like you walking. Keep walking.
Adam Dunn:
"OK. I'll do it for you."
Q: Will Willie Harris answer questions? (Someone (Dunn) responds, "Heck yeah he will.")
Willie Harris:
"Yeah. Bring it."
Q: Couple good plays recently, you always seem to have such a great attitude. How do you always stay so positive and upbeat?
Willie Harris:
"Mainly because I know I'm gonna have way more good days than I am bad days and guys feed off of that type of stuff, I mean, even when you're not playing so well like I am right now, not getting a whole lot of hits*, but a lot the younger guys, Anderson and Alberto, those guys are here and they're looking, so you have to kind of stay positive and keep everybody upbeat. I mean, I don't want to go around pouting and it will rub off on everyone else, so I just try to stay positive, play the game hard all the time, play the game right, and if you're doing all that, the game will give back to you eventually."
Q: To Dunn: Do you think the disappointment you spoke about earlier can be turned around?
Adam Dunn:
"Well, I think it's, first of all, I didn't expect that we would come out and be, you know, play as bad as we have. I mean, we've got, I know everyone says it, but we have a lot better team than what we've shown. And, uh, I think now you're starting to see that, I think now you're starting to see our young pitching come together, you know, we're playing a lot better defense, and uh, you know, I mean, we've played, the last five or six games we've played pretty good, the last two weeks, really, we played really good baseball so, um, you know, I think that's definitely a bright spot. And, you know, our second half is going to be really good. I mean, I really, really believe we're going to have a really good second half, because, you know, our young pitching is, obviously coming along, and uh, if we stay healthy I think, you know, our second half, nobody wants to play us now, I mean there's nobody that wants to play us right now, and we s...you know, we've got the worst record in baseball, so, you know we'll, it'll turn around..."
Q: Does it bother you when others make fun of the team and what you're doing?
Adam Dunn:
"Yeah. Yeah, it bothers you, I mean, but, you know, but then again you have to look back at yourself, I mean, you did it to, we did it to ourselves, I mean, no one else did it to us, we did it to ourselves, so, um, you know it would be like somebody, you know, making fun of your family, you'd be pretty mad about that too..."
Q: What was it like in the clubhouse after the wins against the NY Yankees?
Adam Dunn:
Any time we get a win, you know it's great. But, uh, I think a lot of people are making a big deal out of it, just because of who we played. You know, it's still, you still gotta play baseball, I mean, it doesn't matter if you play the Yankees or whoever, a win's a win, so I just think it was just magnified because it was the Yankees, and it was at their place.
Q: Did winning in front of 46,000 people make a difference?
Adam Dunn:
"I think when you play in front of crowd, I mean, it's obviously a lot easier to, you know, to stay focused, and you know, I mean it's tough when you go out there and, you know, there's 5,000 people and you know, 4,000 of them are, you know, not your fans, and I mean that's tough to play. But, uh, you know, when you got 46,000 people screaming and hollering I mean, it seems like you're, you know pitch by pitch, I mean every, it just a lot easier to play the game."
Q: I just had a question for Adam, one of the readers on my site wanted to know if you'd changed your hitting approach, at all, we noticed you hitting a lot more singles and opposite field?
Adam Dunn:
"Yeah, I was uh, yeah, I've been working on that a lot, trying to hit, you know, a lot more singles this year and, um, you know, just trying to slap the ball to left, and things like that, you know try to use my speed game more...HECK NO, MAN!! (LAUGHTER)...Nah, you know, I don't know I think, it's a lot of little mechanical things, and you kind of work on and continue to work on, and just kinda allowing me to uh, you know, do that, I'm not trying to hit singles."
Q: What do you do during rain delays?
Adam Dunn:
What do we do, Nick?
Nick Johnson:
Play cards.
Q: You don't read blogs, c'mon?
Adam Dunn:
"I'm not going to lie, I don't even know what a blog is...and I'm serious. Is it like Facebook?"
Q: Are you on Facebook?
Adam Dunn:
I am not, Nick Johnson is.
Q: Yeah, I know, he didn't approve my friend request.
Adam Dunn:
Huh? He approved it?
Q: No, he didn't.
Adam Dunn:
He didn't? (to Nick Johnson) NICK? Ryan is too, so he'll approve you.
Q: Is there a particular stadium you don't want to play in?
Ryan Zimmerman:
"Citi Field."
Adam Dunn:
"Mine's Cleveland. I feel, some parks you feel awkward in, you'll feel crooked and this and that. Cleveland's mine."
Willie Harris:
"I hate Oakland...(inaudible)
Nick Johnson:
"Oakland..."
END PART ONE....PART TWO...Manny Acta Interview.