"Baseball fate hasn't been kind this season to former Nationals slugger Adam Dunn, who's struggling through a horrific campaign of unprecedented ugliness. But at least the schedule-maker was kind enough to put Washington on the road for its interleague series against the White Sox in June, sparing Dunn the ignominy of dragging a .175 batting average into Nationals Park for his first visit since leaving.

That might go down as his lone stroke of good fortune this season.

On Monday, Dunn will be in Washington's vicinity again - up the road for a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles - with his batting average scraping along at .163 through Saturday. He's in danger of supplanting Rob Deer (.179 in 1991) for the lowest average by a qualifying hitter in the last century.

Well-liked and immensely popular during his two seasons in Washington, Dunn has become painful to watch as he adjusts to the American League and the DH role. It's not that his lifetime batting average was ever high to begin with, just .250 entering this season. And he always has resided among the game's most-frequent whiffers, leading the NL in strikeouts three times and currently leading the AL.

But it's the dramatic power drain that's made Dunn a shell of his self. The burly "Big Donkey," who hit at least 38 homers each season from 2004-2007, has left the yard a measly 11 times with the White Sox. Having signed a four-year deal for $56 million, Dunn isn't blowing away folks in the Windy City.

It makes you wonder what might've happened had Dunn accepted Washington's too-little-too-late three-year offer. There's no guarantee he would've stunk as badly with the Nats' in his comfort zone, playing first base and facing familiar pitchers. He always questioned how he'd react to sitting during games except for at-bats, and the answer is frightful.

Dunn sparked a good debate among Nats fans and front-office types, who weighed his 40-homer, 100-RBI bat against his below-average, limited-range glove. The team opted for defense and signed slick-fielding first baseman Adam LaRoche, who averaged 26 homers and 89 RBI the past five years - roughly the major-league average for players at that position."