It took but a brief glance at social media following the Dodgers 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday evening to realize that there were a lot of upset Dodger fans out there.

The loudest gripe carried the theme of: How can a team that scored 17 runs on Saturday get shutout by that same team 24 hours later, without so much as having a single runner reach third base?

Adding insult to injury, the first six of those nine shutout innings were by a guy who is 37 years old and entered the game with a 1-3 record and a 4.70 ERA. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, that guy was right-hander Adam Wainwright, who has pretty much had his way with the Dodgers over his 13 MLB seasons, with a (now) career 6-5 record and a (now) 2.51 career ERA in his 15 games (12 starts) against them.

The closest that any Dodger would come to reaching third base, let alone scoring, was when Justin Turner doubled off of Adam Wainwright with one out in the first inning. He was left stranded there.
(Video capture courtesy of ESPN)

But the real culprit on Sunday was that after collecting 16 hits (including five home runs) on Saturday, Wainwright limited the Dodgers to only two of their four total hits on the night. And even though the three-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner, one time Silver Slugger winner, and former World Series Champion walked three in his 6.0 innings of work, he struck out nine.

“I thought Wainwright was really good tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game. “When any pitcher can throw his breaking ball at any point in time – we’re a fastball-hitting team – he was doing it. He was striking it and it had good bite. The fastball in on the lefty and the curveball off of that, changing eye levels.”

Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy took a called third strike from Wainwright to end the first inning, stranding Turner on second base. This would be as close to scoring a run that the Dodgers would get all night.
(Video capture courtesy of ESPN)

With the loss on Sunday, coupled with the Rockies 3-2 win over the Giants, the Dodgers one day atop the National League West came to an abrupt end, and they once again trail Colorado by 0.5 games.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that many of those upset Dodger fans never really expected the Dodgers to take three of four from the Cardinals, especially at Busch Stadium. At best, most were hoping (and praying) for a split and many were hoping (and praying) not to be swept at a ballpark with a very long history of not being kind to the Dodgers.

Roberts concurred.

“We’re a half-game back of the Rockies,” he said. “We’ve got those guys at home. We’re excited about that. We’re in good shape. For us to come in here and win a series against a good club over there, we did what we wanted to accomplish.”

Hard to argue with that.

…which brings us to that  “We’ve got those guys at home” thing.

Beginning on Monday night, the Dodgers open a three-game series against those NL West-leading Rockies and, to put it bluntly, if ever there were a ‘must-win’ series, this is it.

If the Dodgers somehow manage to sweep the series, they will have a (somewhat) comfortable 2.5-game lead over Bud Black’s Rockies with nine games remaining in the regular season. If they take two of three, it will be a far less comfortable 1.5-game lead.

However, should the Dodgers lose two of three, they will drop to 1.5 GB, and (Lord forbid) should the Rockies sweep the series, the Dodgers will enter Thursday’s off day a full 3.5 games back and in serious danger of missing the postseason for the first time in six years, with the last six of those final nine games being on the road.

Showtime indeed.