I have long respected Adam Dunn as a premier slugger in the league. He is quite the unique player in terms of his statistical abilities. Some clubs love him because he walks 100 times a year and jacks 40 bombs. Some clubs dislike him because he has trouble hitting over .250 and because he'll most likely catch air instead of ball over 150 times in the season.

Despite these downsides to Adam Dunn, I like him as a ballplayer, and as I said previously, respect him as a premier slugger. As a matter of fact, I would take a lineup full of career .246 hitting Adam Dunn's any day of the week, and would see you in the World Series. However, there's just one matter about him I frankly don't understand.

I have never understood why Adam Dunn is such a big-time bomber, but about as accomplished as a run producer as Juan Pierre. OK, it might not be that bad. But have you ever seen such a small disparity between the amount of homeruns a player hits and the few runs he drives in?

Witness the numbers: in his rookie season in 2001, Dunn smashed 19 long bombs in only 66 games. His RBI total you ask? Only 43. Let's continue:

2001: HR - 19, RBI - 43
2002: HR - 26, RBI - 71
2003: HR - 27, RBI - 57
2004: HR 46, RBI - 102
2005: HR - 40, RBI - 101
So far in 2006: HR- 28 RBI - 60
Career: HR - 181, RBI - 417.

That ratio of RBI to HR is nearly 2:1. It seems incredibly low for a HR hitter to me. If you have any ideas why, please place it in the comments section, because I can't believe it.

Rivera is undeniably the best closer in the game. You can say Papelbon and Ryan are having better years, but neither have done it for more than 2 seasons. Hoffman is having a better year too, a career year for Trevor, but he's 2nd to Rivera as the best closer in the game. What Mariano has done is incredible. Not only was he un-hittable and ridiculously dominant in the 90s, especially in the post-season, he has also been the best and most consistent closer of the 2000s as well. You can say that a guy like Eric Gagne was more dominant for a period of time, and he was, but that only supports the argument for Rivera as the best of all-time.

Longevity-wise, being a closer is the most difficult position in baseball to survive and thrive in year-after-year. Gagne was the best for what, 3 years? Franky Rodriguez was un-hittable for what, 3 playoff series in 2002? Brad Lidge, un-hittable for the 2005 post-season until Pujols torched him, and now look at him. Don't even make me bring up Mark Wohlers.

Rivera consistently has an ERA in the 1s, often pitches several 3+ out saves.  In over 100 post-season innings, including 24 playoff series, only 10 earned runs allowed, only 84-freakin base-runners in 111.2 IP, that is silly.  That is as incredible an un-hittable as it gets.

Rivera's utter post-season dominance gives him an easy edge over an other reliever in baseball, ever.

The Nuggets will not be a championship team with Melo. This is a response to the Nuggets signing him to a 5 year $79 million extension. First, just because he won at Syracuse in college doesn't mean he's good enough to lead his team to the NBA championship. Many players are older, have a better work ethic, and have matured as players, and therefore have left him behind in the dust.  Obviously Wade is a much better player now than he was with Marquette. It's just a reality. It doesn't mean that it's a bad idea for the Nuggets to extend Melo because it's not.

Every team needs an identifiable face and star player. Melo is that for Denver. The only problem is, he's less of a player than other team's stars, and the Nuggets therefore won't be as good either. He's not as good as Nash, Marion, and Amare of Phoenix, Duncan or Ginobili of San Antonio, Dirk of Dallas, Brand of the Clippers, Kobe, Pau, you name it, those guys are all better and that's in the West alone. But he is a marquee name, and that it's good for the city of Denver to keep him locked up, just don't expect them to go to a NBA championship with him.

Yankees fans have convinced me that they are complete idiots.  Not only are they obnoxious and feel superior because their team has the largest payroll, but they are also the dumbest and most hypocritical

Witness: They cheered Jason Giambi after he apologized, all but admitting he took steroids, and were only too happy to see him back hitting home runs. They couldn't care less if he were back on the juice, so long as he's back to hitting 30+ bombs.

They cheer Gary Sheffield after he got linked up with Bonds for taking steroids/performance enhancers in Game of Shadows. Somehow that book looks pretty acurate now.

They also boo A-Rod consistently. Hmm, he only won the MVP last year, moved positions from SS where he was a gold-glover to 3B to be a "team player". Handles the media well and is a good guy, not getting into trouble off the field. And in reality, the dude is still a .280 hitter with very good power this year, and they're no where near satisfied. What idiots. What more could you want out of the guy? Granted he signed the most lucrative deal in history. It can be argued that no player is worth $25.2 million/year. But putting that aside, if anyone is deserving of the largest contract in baseball, it's definitely him.

A-Rod has only missed 8 games in 5 years since signing the deal (he played in all 162 3 times). He's hit 47+ HRs in 4 of the 5 years, drove in over 100 runs all 5 years, 130 or more 3 times, hit over 300 3 times, scored over 112 runs all 5 years, stole a bunch of bases. Mix in 2 gold gloves, 2 MVPs, this guy is money.

And I won't buy that he choked in the playoffs. That's a load of B.S.- he had 15 ABs, any player can easily have a 4 game slump, please. Vlad Guerrero was 6/18 (.333) against the Yankees, and then slumped against the White Sox going 1/20 (.050) in the playoffs last year. Would I call him a choke or a bad hitter? Heck no, anyone who does is an idiot. Both are amongst the top 10 hitters in the game, in any year, most likely the top 5, or top 3.

Where were the Yankee fans in 2004 when he was 16/50 in the playoffs, that's over .300, who wouldn't take that?