It’s Gonna Be A Long Two Months Of Hardtack

In the new version of the Oregon Trail, there are situations where the flour gets spoiled, and your only option is to cook the flour and turn it into hardtack. Dry biscuits, basically. They are probably the difference between surviving nad not suriving, but the morale in your party goes down.

Tonight’s loss was a microcosm of hardtack. There will be a lot of them over the next two months. The Mets now have a roster built merely for survival. But the morale is way down. I know mine is down. And I know Brandon Nimmo’s morale is way down because he admitted to not being able to sleep after the Scherzer trade. He already has missed two games with quad tightness, but I just hope he doesn’t die of dysentry at this point. (Though Ike Davis had valley fever and Noah Syndergaard had hand, foot and mouth disease, so I’m not counting anything out.)

New ace Kodai Senga was ordinary tonight. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but the crown was weighed down by the light rain falling in the first two innings as he gave up three runs to a Royals team last in the A.L. in runs per game going into this game. He steadied himself enough to last 5 and 2/3’s with only those three runs given up, but the Mets couldn’t overcome it. Single and a walk to lead off the first, nothing. Two singles to lead off the third, nothing. Two straight singles with one out in the fifth, nothing. The Mets finally get a hit with a runner in scoring position in the sixth, and Joey Cora sends Mark Vientos to get made by Tuddy Cicero

Drew Waters giving his best Patrick Mahomes impression. #Royals

TV: Bally Sports Kansas City
Stream: https://t.co/s7ZpYmTiMY pic.twitter.com/TxYXx4BYoD

— Bally Sports Kansas City (@BallySportsKC) August 3, 2023

Then in the ninth after the Mets scrounged up a two out rally to load the bases down 4-0, Jeff McNeil … who had three hits … grounded out to end the game. The Mets squandered rallies when they had a good lineup on the card. Now, with the likes of Danny Mendick playing left field and Rafael Ortega playing center, this is going to be excruciating.

And about Mendick playing left field, the third run scored because Mendick, who has played three games in left field in his career, has a noodle arm. Vientos was playing first base because Pete Alonso was the DH, and he totally whiffed on a tag play to get the runner straying too far off of first. Unfortunately, Vientos is the most qualified to be the backup at first because with Mark Canha gone, nobody else can play first. But the young man is not an infielder. He can’t play third, and his fundies at first are horrible. But this is unfortunately what we’re going to have to live with the next couple of months.

We’re also going to have to live with Phil Bickford, who was having such a great year that a playoff team sent him to a team that was hauling away quality major leagues and only asked for cash in return (probably to be contributed to the 2024 Shohei Ohtani Funs.). Tonight, he gave up a home run to Drew Waters in his Mets debut. Adam Kolarek, who has 144 career innings in seven seasons, was also acquired in that sale and will probably be a workhorse for the Mets because he’s a warm body (and because somehow Billy Eppler got a power hitting prospect for a reliever that he picked up off the scrapheap and that reliever needed to be replaced.)

It’s going to be a long two months. Better stock up on that hardtack because that’s all we’re getting the next two months. And if Steve Cohen was really telling the truth to Max Scherzer, that might be what we get next season too.

“Max asked me straight up if I’d be all-in on free agents. And I couldn’t give him that promise.” -Steve Cohen

Bake that flour, everyone. The Oregon Trail of Discontent awaits.

Today’s Hate List

Steve Gelbs.

If you’re a regular reader here, first off thank you. Second, you’re nuts. Third, you know that the Hate List almost never ever includes Mets or Mets employees unless absolutely necessary.

Well since this season has put me in a foul mood as Cohen and Eppler went scorched earth on the roster, I’m going scorched earth on Gelbs. And this isn’t even simply because “he’s not Gare”, and it isn’t even about calling Francisco Alvarez “Lindor” during his go-ahead home run on Tuesday. I may have been apoplectic on TwiXXer in the moment, but that was more to get retweets (You know, like Martino does.) Things happen, mistakes are made, whatever. Not to mention that last night was a weird night all the way around. I get it.

But in the first inning tonight, he did something that really bothered me. He was discussing the Royals’ starter Cole Ragans, and how Buck gave the media a long scouting report on him before the game. Gelbs then took a little snarky tone and said something to the effect of Buck was asked about Ragans and he went “longer than anybody hoped he would.”

It really bothers me when people who have jobs in the baseball industry that other people would kill for act like they can’t be bothered to do the actual job. It bothers me more when they take a swipe at someone who is trying to help them do their job. And it bothers me even more that snarkiness about long winded diatribes comes from a guy who gave us a four part series on what Jon Niese does when he’s not starting, including weightlifting reps and meal plans. If Stephen Nogosek’s tooth brushing habits affected his slider, Gelbs would show us his dental x-rays on the air.

But Buck talks too much?

Gelbs, I wish you well. But stop with the awkward snarkiness, appreciate the mundane in your exciting job, and just call the game and tell us who the f*ck Jonathan Arauz is.