It was the ultimate Cinderella story – a big league player who grew up as a die-hard Dodger fan in the shadows of Dodger Stadium is suddenly traded from a perennial last place team to his hometown Dodgers, who are playoff-bound. It was a dream almost too good to be true for the 30-year-old Corona native and Rialto resident. But as they say, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

When right-hander Ricky Nolasco left the Miami Marlins he was 5-8 with a 3.85 ERA and was the best pitcher in Marlins franchise history with an 81-72 career record and 4.44 career ERA. Granted, being the all-time Marlins franchise leader with only 81 wins and a 4.44 ERA isn’t really saying very much, but hey, it’s something.

When he joined the Dodgers on July 6, Nolasco made an immediate impact going 8-1 in his first 11 starts and it looked as though the Dodgers had finally found a replacement for the injured Chad Billingsley as a true number four and perhaps even a number three starter.

…and then the wheels fell off for Nolasco.

In his last three starts Nolasco has been… well… awful. He has allowed 17 earned runs on 24 hits in 12 innings pitched for a dismal 12.74 ERA. And though Nolasco’s overall numbers for 2013 are 13-11 with a 3.72 ERA, he is at serious risk of losing a spot on the Dodgers playoff roster to a suddenly red hot Edinson Volquez, who has allowed only four earned runs in his last 12 innings pitched for a 3.00 ERA.

Is the honeymoon over for Nolasco? He is a free agent at the end of the season and will undoubtedly be seeking a huge and lengthy contract – something that Dodger general manager Ned Colletti needs to give a lot of consideration to. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

After the outstanding performance by Rookie of the Year candidate Hyun-jin Ryu against the Giants on Tuesday night, it’s safe to say that Ryu will be the Dodgers number three starter behind Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke when the National League Division Series begins one week from today. And with the likelihood that Dodger manager Don Mattingly (and general manager Ned Colletti) will have a fourth starter on their NLDS roster as a long reliever (if needed), it now appears that Volquez may have passed Nolasco for that precious roster spot – especially if Mattingly follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Joe Torre, who was famous for going with the hot hand regardless of the overall numbers.

It’s not that Nolasco has suddenly lost his ability to pitch – he is still averaging 5.2 strike outs per game since joining the Dodgers, it’s that he is making frequent mistakes by leaving the ball up in the zone and he and the Dodgers have paid dearly for these mistakes.

While Mattingly has shown tremendous patience with struggling players in his three seasons as the Dodger manager (most notably with Juan Uribe), the playoffs are not the time to keep running a struggling player out there hoping that he will suddenly turn things around.

This is not a knock on Ricky Nolasco, not in any way, but Mattingly and the Dodgers must… absolutely must put their best nine out there every game during the playoffs. Unfortunately, Ricky Nolasco is no longer one of them.