"Ozzie Guillen joked recently that when his wife is feeling amorous, he's too busy worrying about Adam Dunn's hitting to be interested.

It's a good thing he was kidding. Otherwise, he'd be a confirmed celibate by now.

It has reached the point where you feel good if Dunn simply makes contact with the baseball. It doesn't matter if it's a foul ball; you're happy for the guy.

There have been so many misses and so many submissive non-swings that the sound of the ball hitting the bat at least speaks of possibility. A baby-step grounder someday might grow up to be a walk-off home run.

On Sunday against the Cubs, Dunn had a strikeout, two pop-ups and a fly to center field. As measly as that collection of at-bats sounds, the struggling White Sox slugger said it felt like the beginning of something.

''The second [at-bat], I don't know what it was, but something felt actually normal,'' he said. ''Hopefully, that will carry over .??.??. and we can kind of get it going.''"