Bordow: Dunn frees up D-Backs to be themselves

You want to know about the Adam Dunn effect?

OK, here goes:

Bottom of the first inning Wednesday at Chase Field. The San Diego Padres have a 4-0 lead and Jake Peavy on the mound.

Diamondbacks survive slugfest with Padres

That's as sure of a thing as there is in baseball.

Then Augie Ojeda doubles to left. Conor Jackson draws a base on balls.

Dunn, standing just outside the on-deck circle, walks slowly to the plate.

He's hitting .292 with one homer and five RBIs in seven games with the Diamondbacks. Nice numbers, but that Manny guy is going nuts in Los Angeles.

Dunn works the count full, showing off the batting eye that has him leading the major leagues in walks.

Peavy, a power pitcher, throws his best pitch: A 93mph fastball over the inside part of the plate.

Dunn, a power hitter, swings and hammers it over the right-field fence.

The Padres' lead is cut to 4-3. And the shot is heard 356 miles away at Dodger Stadium.

"I think it was huge," Dunn said after the Diamondbacks' 8-6 victory. "You don't really expect to score a lot of runs off one of the game's best pitchers."

Everyone wants to talk about the statistical impact Dunn has had on the Diamondbacks' offense. Arizona is averaging 6.7 runs per game since his arrival, and it's become much more selective at the plate, drawing 6.2 walks per contest.

Are the rest of the D-Backs taking a cue from Dunn, whose on-base percentage is a ridiculous .513? Who knows.

But it can't be a complete coincidence that a free-swinging team suddenly has discovered the joy of ball four.

"All I know is that I'm getting a heck of a lot more at-bats with runners on base," third baseman Mark Reynolds said.

Here's what you don't see in the box score: Dunn has freed the Diamondbacks' hitters up to be themselves.

When a team doesn't have a true clean-up hitter, others try to compensate. They fail most of the time because they're trying to be something they're not.

But with Dunn in tow, guys like Chris Young and Jackson and Chad Tracy don't have to try to jack every pitch 400 feet. They know Dunn will take care of the long ball.

"It takes a lot of pressure off a lot of the guys in the lineup," manager Bob Melvin said. "Nailing down that four hole allows guys not to press too much."

Or as Peavy succinctly put it:

"He hits homers. He changes games."

Could these last eight games be an aberration? Sure.

We've seen the Diamondbacks get hot before only to revert to their old, impatient ways. And other than Peavy and Houston's Roy Oswalt, they haven't exactly faced some of baseball's best arms.

For now, though, Arizona is a different team. A better team.

Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez has become L.A.'s newest celebrity, and what a final month of the season this promises to be.

"I like tight pennant races outside our division," Melvin said with a smile. "I would much rather be in the position the (Los Angeles Angels) are."

Sorry, Bob, but that's not going to happen.

It'll be Arizona and Los Angeles, Los Angeles and Arizona, down to the wire.

Unless, of course, Dunn keeps getting on base and the Diamondbacks win it in a walk.