Let’s face it; there wasn’t much for Dodger fans to cheer about on Thursday evening when the National League West fourth-place Colorado Rockies thoroughly embarrassed their defending World Champions, pounding them 10-5 at Coors Field. It was so bad that one-time 2021 NL Cy Young hopeful Walker Buehler allowed five runs on seven hits, with all five of those runs and six of those hits coming in the bottom of the fourth inning; which begs the question: Why did Dodgers manager Dave Roberts allow Buehler to die on the vine for that long in a must-win game when he clearly did not have his best stuff?

“I thought early I thought Walker was good, mixing well,” Roberts said after the game almost apologetically. “And I think that fourth inning just… there was a shift buster from [Ryan] McMahan – good piece of hitting, the [C.J.] Cron ball, obviously the backbreaker was that [German] Márquez [two-run] double. Just didn’t miss as many bats tonight.”

Accurate.

But unlike his manager, Buehler made no excuses about what happened.

“I didn’t do my job; I think that’s the biggest thing,” Buehler said postgame. “Our team put me out to a (3-0) lead and I couldn’t protect it.” … My job is to set the tone and get us in the game, and I didn’t do that.”

But ‘Every dark cloud has its silver lining,’ as they say, and that silver lining came in the top half of that nightmarish fourth inning, when recently recalled (on Tuesday) outfielder Luke Raley absolutely crushed a 94-MPH four-seam fastball by Rockies right-hander German Márquez (yes, backbreaker” Márquez) for a 472-foot two-run home run. It is the longest home run hit by a Dodger this season.

As most Dodger fans know, the just-turned-27-year-old (on September 19) Raley has had his ups and downs this season – literally. He was called up and sent back down to Triple-A Oklahoma City (and the Dodgers’ alternate training site) a few times this season. But the Hinckley, OH native and Dodgers seventh-round draft pick in 2016 out of Lake Erie College in Painesville, OH, never lost confidence in himself.

“I need to stay positive and realize I can play at this level,” Raley said postgame.

As for his mammoth home run and despite the ugly Dodgers loss, Raley had this to say:

“It’s an awesome experience. I’m glad to be a part of it. I want to help the Dodgers win baseball games. That’s my ultimate goal.”

But there’s yet another silver lining to this one. Raley’s mom Beth was among the 27,013 at Coors Field to witness her son’s monster mash.

“My mom’s the only [family member] here,” Raley said. “This is the first time she’s got to see me play in the big leagues, which is really awesome that I was able to do that today in front of her.”

Awesome indeed.

As for that ‘must-win game’ thing, the Dodgers entered Wednesday’s contest trailing the San Francisco Giants by one game in the NL West standings with 11 games remaining in the 2021 regular season. It is now 10 games remaining and the Dodgers now trail The Hated Ones by 2.0 games, as they defeated the freefalling San Diego Padres by a score of 8-6 at Petco Park on Wednesday. As such, Buehler (presumably) will have only two regular-season starts remaining to ‘do his job;’ to which Roberts said:

“With Walker, he’s a guy to bet on.”

Money plays, Doc.

Play Ball!

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