When you lose eight of your last 13 games, it starts becoming easy to point fingers at those responsible for each individual loss. At face value, that individual during Tuesday night’s painful 12-inning / 8-5 loss to the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks was Dodgers right-hander Yimi Garcia, who threw a 96-MPH cookie to Dbacks pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso that was right down the middle on a 1-2 count.

Descalso did not miss it.

Instead, he deposited it the front row of the Right Field Pavilion for a devastating three-run home run that turned a hard-fought 5-5 tie into an 8-5 Dbacks win; their National-League-best 24th of the season and eighth (of 11) against the now 15-20 Dodgers.

Even at 96 MPH, a major leaguer can hit a fastball that is right down Broadway, as did Diamondbacks pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso off of Dodgers right-hander Yimi Garcia in the top of the 12th inning on Tuesday night for a game-winning three-run home run. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

But even though Garcia will be remembered as ‘that guy’ as the culprit in Tuesday night’s four hour and 29 minute marathon loss, the actual blame (if you will) falls squarely on the shoulders of Dodgers back-up catcher Kyle Farmer and beloved veteran second baseman Chase Utley.

With one out in the bottom of the 10th inning and the bases loaded (i.e. the winning run 90 feet away with less than two outs), Farmer was unable to put the ball in play and struck out swinging for the second out of the inning.

There is no denying that the strike three pitch to Farmer by Dbacks right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano was absolutely filthy, but by chasing it, Farmer turned a bases-loaded one-out potential game-winning situation into a now-escapable one for Arizona; which, of course, they did. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

Now granted, the pitch that the extremely popular former Georgia Bulldog – who will forever be remembered for hitting a walk-off double in a near-identical situation in his very first major league at-bat last season – swung on and missed was an absolutely filthy sinking curveball in the dirt. But that strikeout now put the Dbacks in a position to possibly escape what moments before looked hopeless for them and hopeful for the Dodgers.

But it’s what the next batter, 39-year-old / 16-year MLB veteran Chase Utley, did that broke the back of the Dodgers and the hearts of Dodger fans.

In a situation no different than the one Farmer had been in moments before – albeit now with two outs instead of one – Utley took a called strike three to end the threat, the inning, and ultimately the Dodgers single best opportunity to walk it off.

Uncharacteristically, Utley took this pitch for a called strike three to eliminate the Dodgers best opportunity to win on Tuesday night. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

“It’s a tough one. I thought that our guys competed,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, following the game. “We had guys in scoring position, we had traffic, and situationally, towards the end of that game, we couldn’t capitalize.

“When we’re getting guys on base, having good at-bats, we’re staying in the strike zone, and it seems like when we do get guys in scoring position – and it’s been all year – we’ve expanded, and teams understand that,” Roberts added. “And so until we can kind of really try to stay in that strike zone, it’s gonna be tough.”

The silver lining to this otherwise dark cloud is that after Wednesday night’s brief two-game series finale against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers will not have to face their toughest divisional opponent again this season until August 30. The problem with this, of course, is that the best – and fastest – way to gain ground on teams ahead of you in the standings is during head-to-head competition. That being said, the Dodgers can only hope that the other teams in the MLB prove to be better opponents against Torey Lovullo’s team than the defending National League champion Dodgers have been.

Play Ball!