Good Morning, Charlie

A Good Thing - The Base God collected the 2000th hit of his career last night as the Reds taxidermed the Cubs 14-5.

A Sad Thing - In the post-game presser Joey mentioned that his dog, Maris, died last year. I like to think he’s in doggy heaven now, chewing on the few thousand other baseballs Joey has sent to the Great Beyond throughout his career.

Absolutely Not At All A Charlie Thing - The Reds and Cubs will play in the Field of Dreams game next season. Thanks, but it’s dumb. I can’t remember if I went on about how stupid it is here or on the twitter, but either way just trust me when I say that I think it is dumb as hell and not at all cool and I’m usually right about most things.

Baseball is at its worst when it is insular and backward-looking, which I’m pretty sure are the words stitched on the inside collars of the 30 identical Brooks Brothers suits Rob Manfred has hanging in his spare bedroom closet (I’m 100% certain his wife does not share the walk-in with him). It might have been cool, and maybe it will be next year when Joey is mugging for the national TV audience, but I’m gonna need a lot less Joe Buck and Kevin Costner admiring each other’s assholes for three-and-half innings.

I’m Not Sure What To Make About This Thing - Nick Senzel is healthy (as of this minute) but I guess they Reds don’t think he’s among the 26 best ballplayers they have right now. He’s gonna stay in Louisville for the time being.

GM Nick Krall’s explanation is that he’s the only dude with minor-league options available, so that’s why he has to sit in the middle seat. It’s pretty clear to me however that the Krall and the braintrust see an opportunity to kick Senzel’s service time yet again and also a cover story that the locals won’t seriously question. Maybe I’m kinda paranoid, but also I’m pretty sure everyone is out to get me.

It likely won’t make much difference in the long run, I suppose. Somebody will get hurt (Jesse Winker went to the IL so the Reds called Senzel up to replace him, right ??? ) and he’ll be up before too long. Still, this roster is fuxxed as far as Monday is to Friday because ownership is so cheap. Out-of-options fringey major leaguers are the cheapest assets out there so naturally this roster has a dozen or so of them. Funny how that works.

A Politics Thing - Watching the events in Afghanistan and the subsequent mainstream discourse around it got me feeling like something the dog wouldn’t eat. The political class of this country has operated by general consensus on terms of foreign policy for generations now. The failed states of Afghanistan and Iraq (not to mention Yemen and Haiti and central Africa and the entire damn globe tbqh) are entirely designed by the US governing and business class. Democrats and Republicans alike are responsible for all of this.

In a different time I might have been hopeful that this would serve as a catalyst in our public consciousness and get us to reevaluate some things, but I gave up that kind of hope. We don’t really stand a chance, you know. We never did.

Still, try to be good.