There is no joy in Mudville this morning.  The Cubs were beaten to a bloody pulp last night by the Phillies 12-5.  Honestly, the game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate.  You can read Carrie Muskat’s recap of the game from MLB.com.  I’d just as soon not talk about it.

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As upset as I am about last night’s game, there are a few things we can learn from it:

• Jeff Samardzjia is not ready for the big leagues.  Maybe he will be some day, but he’s not ready now.
• Carlos Marmol can be a decent pitcher provided he only throws in non-pressure situations.  But when the game is on the line, or the score is close, or the opposition has any chance of winning the game, or people are watching, Marmol can’t throw strikes.
• Milton Bradley got his 30th RBI of the season last night on August 12.  That’s pathetic.
• Ryan Theriot went 3-for-5 last night, raising his season batting average to .300.  Color me surprised by this news.  I still think Theriot would make a good second baseman. 
• Sam Fuld got one at-bat and got a hit.  His is a good story.  Apparently ESPN.com think so too.  Here’s a piece they did about Fuld.
• Prior to pitching last night’s game, Pedro Martinez pitched in a AA game and he was pretty much average for a AA pitcher.  Last night, he held the Cubs in check.  What does that tell you about the Cubs offense?
• This team really needs a healthy Aramis Ramirez.

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The Cubs are currently 4.0 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central and 4.0 games back of Colorado in the NL Wildcard race.  I don’t want to overstate the situation nor do I want to sound overly dramatic, but last night’s loss felt like the end of the Cubs chances for 2009.

I’ve followed the Cubs for a long time.  There have been some good years and a lot of bad years.  In the bad years, there always seemed to be a game or a series that was defining and let fans know that they should begin turning their attention to next year.  Last night’s game had that feel for me.

Baseball is a goofy game and some weird things can happen.  Granted, those things would have to be really goofy for the Cubs to get back into the playoff race, but as they say, stranger things have happened.

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John Smoltz cleared waivers, refused an assignment to the minors, and has declined an invitation to pitch out of the bullpen for Boston.  I had pushed the idea of the Cubs acquiring Smoltz, but that was with the idea of him working out of the bullpen.  Smoltz’ performance this year as a starter would indicate that his starting days are behind him.

John Smoltz has had a great career; a Hall of Fame career.  It would be a shame for him to end his career under the current circumstances.  For the sake of his legacy, and for the sake of his next contract (provided he decides to play past this year), I’d like to see Smoltz return to the NL and work out of the bullpen for a contender.

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I have to admit that I have been a little tough on JP Ricciardi recently.  I thought he mishandled his attempts to trade Roy Halladay and his recent salary dump of Alex Rios just further strengthened my belief that he is not particularly good at his job.  But my criticism was nothing compared to what Joe Posnanski had to say on his blog.

Yesterday, I commented on a blog post by Dave Kaplan in which Kaplan claimed that Carlos Zambrano is the most overpaid player in baseball.  Posnanski did Kaplan one better by listing the 11 worst contracts in baseball
(Zambrano’s is not among them, although he does comment on it).  In the process, Posnanski rips Ricciardi pointing out that Ricciardi’s fingerprints are all over some of the very worst contracts in the game.  

Posnanski’s article/blog post makes for a great read.  It also points out the absurdity of Kaplan’s claim.  As Posnanski illustrates, not only is Zambrano’s contract not one of the worst in baseball, it’s not even the worst on the Cubs.  Alfonso Soriano’s contract takes that honor.

But back to Ricciardi.  Posnanski admits that he just doesn’t understand anything about Ricciardi, yet he comes up with a way to honor the man.  In the future, Posnanski suggests, all bad baseball contracts should be referred to as Ricciardis.  A fitting tribute to the man who has perfected the art of handing out bad contracts to average or worse players.

Before I go, I have to quote my favorite line from Posnanski’s post.  It’s hilarious.

In talking about Vernon Wells contract, which Posnanski deems as the worst in all of baseball, he says this:

“Cot’s Baseball Contracts — the incredibly awesome site where I got these numbers from — is one of my favorite Internet stops. And on occasion, just for fun, I will go to the site just to look up Vernon Wells’ contract. I don’t know why. It gives me hope, somehow. It tells me that in this world, anything is possible. It tells me that good things happen, funny things, unexpected things. Don’t tell me that I won’t win the lottery … just look at Vernon Wells’ contract.

In 2011, Vernon Wells will get paid $23 million. No. Really. He will get paid $23 million.

In 2012, he will have to take a paycut and will only get $21 million. Same in 2013. And same again in 2014.”

And then he adds my favorite line from his piece;

“This isn’t a baseball contract. This is a testament to the power of mankind to do the impossible.”

Brilliant!