Dunn not only has been the most productive hitter for Team USA, but also one of its most energetic players, clearly enjoying the international stage.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi obviously was wrong when he said that Dunn disliked baseball during an exchange with a radio talk-show caller last June.

Ricciardi, who apologized for his remarks, says, "I don't want to talk about that anymore. That's old news." But Dunn's two-run homer in Team USA's 6-5 victory over Team Canada at Skydome — the Jays' home park — only made Ricciardi look more mistaken.

Dunn likes baseball, particularly winning, meaningful baseball. The question now is how he will adjust to playing for the lowly Nationals after experiencing his first pennant race with the Diamondbacks last season — and now the electricity of playing for Team USA.

"That's going to be the challenging part of it," says Dunn, who is 7-for-13 with three homers and six walks in the WBC. "I've never been on a team that nationally had expectations this low. I don't know why we can't go out and shock everyone. That's how I'll go into it."

Coming from a Nat, those practically are fighting words. And Dunn's new manager, Manny Acta, believes the outfielder is sincere.

"He's going to be great here," Acta says. "One thing that he's embracing is the fact that he's going to be 'The Guy,' when it comes down to being a leader on and off the field.

The Nationals are eager to instill a culture of winning, and Dunn has yet to win as a professional. However, he has appeared in 152 or more games in six of the past seven seasons, never quitting on his team.

"We actually talked about that a little bit this offseason — we had never been on losing teams until we got to the big leagues," says Kearns, Dunn's former teammate with the Reds. "Mentally, you just have to roll with it. If you let it bother you, get you down, it will wear you out."

Dunn, who says, "I hate losing more than I like winning," does not plan to spend the next two seasons biding his time, waiting for his next shot at free agency. If anything, his participation in the WBC only has made him hungrier. He says the crowd in Toronto for USA-Canada was "by far" the most intense he has seen.

"I don't ever feel like I have to stand here and tell everyone how much I love baseball," Dunn says. "When I hear stuff like that, it makes me mad, of course. But I shrug it off. I don't care what people outside the clubhouse say."

Well, of course he does. Dunn, when pressed, admits that he wants to be known — and remembered — in a certain way.

"I don't care about the numbers," Dunn says. "I want people to say that I had fun, played the game right and loved winning."

Spoken with passion. Spoken from the heart.