It was just one of those things – like a train wreck, or a bridge collapsing, or a ship sinking.

Ok, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but Wednesday night’s 16-6 loss by the Dodgers to the (seemingly) perennial AL West cellar-dwelling Oakland Athletics in front of a nearly sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd of 49,394 was pretty bad.

“It didn’t start out well for us, obviously,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after a game in which his pitching staff allowed 16 runs on 21 hits. “We didn’t play well, we got outplayed.”

Ya think?

Although Roberts was clearly humiliated – if not embarrassed – by having his defending National League Champion team knocked around by an American League team that finished last in its division in 2017 with a record of 75-87 and 26 games behind the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros (another train wreck), he fell on his sword, as good managers often do in difficult situations like this.

“Those guys, you don’t see it very often, but tonight we got our butts kicked in every part of the game, so a credit to those guys,” said Roberts. “We have an off-day and we gotta come back and try to win a baseball game.”

For a Dodger team that is now 4-7 on the new season, that may be easier said than done, especially when you consider that the next baseball game – and the two that follow – are against the NL West division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, whom they already trail by 4.5 games after playing only 11. Add to that the fact that the Dodgers have yet to win a series this season of the four they have now played.

As for Wednesday night’s disaster, Roberts defended starting pitcher Alex Wood, who himself allowed seven runs on seven hits (as well as you can defend a guy who allowed seven runs on seven hits), coming dangerously close to almost making an excuse for his 27-year-old lefty.

“Woody would never say it, but he was battling a sickness over the last few days and did the best he could with what he had, and it just didn’t work out,” said Roberts. “And unfortunately, we couldn’t keep those guys at bay. It’s one of those nights.”

One of those nights indeed.

Alex Wood has allowed seven earned runs in a game only four times in his six-year MLB career and eight earned runs only once. The good news is that he has never allowed nine or more … so he’s got that going for him.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Despite the shellacking that Roberts’ team took at the hands of what many so-called baseball experts consider one of the worst teams in all of baseball this season, there were some positives, albeit only a few. Among them was the fact that current former Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp and catcher Yasmani Grandal went 3-for-4 on the night, with the latter coming a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, although a triple for Grandal is akin to finding the Holy Grail (he’s hit three in his seven-year MLB career).

Additionally, Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, who was not in the starting line-up for the first time this season, came a stellar, highlight-reel catch away from hitting a pinch-hit three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning that would have made it a 9-7 ballgame. But as if to add insult to injury, that home-run-robbing catch was made by none other than A’s center fielder Trayce Thompson who, up until a week ago, was wearing a Dodgers uniform.

But alas, there are still 151 games remaining in the 2018 regular season, and it is highly unlikely that many will be the train wreck, or collapsing bridge, or sinking ship that was Wednesday night’s game.

…or so we hope.