Horror of horrors, it’s occurring once more.

Clayton Kershaw is trudging off the mound along with his head hanging, once more.

Dave Roberts is staring into house along with his eyes flaring, once more.

The Dodgers offense is flailing carelessly into the winter, once more.

Once more, once more, once more, the Dodgers are blowing October.

A season that was imagined to be totally different skidded towards a well-recognized ditch Thursday with the identical insufferable screeching that Dodger followers have endured for eight years.

This time it was the Atlanta Braves, this time it was the Nationwide League Championship Sequence, however this time it was like each different time.

The Dodgers, with momentum on their facet and Kershaw on their mound, watched each slip away in a defining postseason loss to a clearly undermanned opponent.

The Braves gained Recreation 4, 10-2, to take a seemingly insurmountable three-games-to-one lead in a sequence that appears so acquainted as a result of it shouldn’t be trying like this.

On a windy night time at Globe Life Discipline in Arlington, Texas, the Dodgers had been coming off a 15-Three Recreation Three victory and had their future Corridor of Famer dealing with anyone named Bryse Wilson, a 22-year-old child who had pitched in 15 huge league video games.

It felt like a lock. It turned out to be a large number. The Dodgers offense misplaced its thoughts in impatiently hacking out one hit in six innings in opposition to the rookie.

Kershaw misplaced his grip after 5 sturdy innings, allowed hits to the primary three batters within the sixth, and completed with one other fall failure.

Roberts misplaced his bearings by leaving Kershaw within the recreation one batter too lengthy in that sixth, and the place have you ever heard that earlier than?

This may occasionally have been Atlanta in 2020, however the mixed failures echoed via Washington in 2019, Boston in 2018, Houston in 2017, the Chicago Cubs in 2016, the New York Mets in 2015, and St. Louis in 2014 and 2013.

This has occurred a lot, to count on one thing totally different is the definition of madness, which describes what it feels wish to preserve believing in these guys.

There are doubtlessly three extra video games on this best-of-seven sequence, however the Dodgers should win all three in opposition to a workforce that has already overwhelmed their greatest pitchers and shut down their greatest hitters. One night time after seemingly gaining management, the Dodgers are all of the sudden trying like a misplaced trigger. The destiny of the season rests in the precise arm of Dustin Might, who will begin Recreation 5 on Friday night time in opposition to a bunch of Braves pitchers who’ve been tons of powerful.

And, by the best way, in all of baseball historical past, groups trailing three video games to at least one have gained however 13 instances in 87 sequence.

“They nonetheless need to beat us one other time, and I nonetheless consider in everybody in that clubhouse,” mentioned Roberts.

But on the 32nd anniversary of Kirk Gibson’s World Sequence residence run, this wasn’t a recreation, it was blasphemy.

Begin with the league-best offense, whose trademark this season was to patiently put on down pitchers earlier than smothering them. Not this time. Not even in opposition to seemingly probably the most susceptible of arms.

Within the first inning, Mookie Betts swung at Wilson’s second pitch. So did Corey Seager. The child wanted simply 9 pitches to get out of the inning. It was the identical with the second inning, solely 9 extra pitches, and by the point the sixth inning ended Wilson had barely damaged a sweat, throwing 74 pitches, giving up simply an Edwin Rios residence run.

The identical couldn’t be in the end mentioned of Kershaw, who yielded simply 4 hits over the primary 5 innings however all of the sudden discovered himself stumbling underneath stress within the sixth.

With the rating tied 1-1, Ronald Acuña Jr. led off by reaching second on a chopper over Kershaw’s head that Kiké Hernández threw wildly to first. Then Freddie Freeman stroked an RBI double into deep proper discipline to offer the Braves the lead.

Then up stepped Marcell Ozuna, who had hit the ball exhausting in opposition to Kershaw in two earlier at-bats, together with hammering a protracted residence run within the fourth. Kershaw had thrown 81 pitches. It appeared an ideal time to carry him.

Roberts disagreed.

“The inning prior . . . was a clear inning,” Roberts mentioned. “I believed Clayton was throwing the ball nicely and there was no motive. I felt actually good about it.”

Kershaw stayed. Ozuna whaled. He labored the rely full and powered a line drive into left-center discipline to attain one other run, forcing Kershaw to the dugout whereas opening the floodgates.

Afterward, Kershaw was requested a query he has been requested 1,000,000 totally different instances during the last eight Octobers — what was he making an attempt to do with the hitter that beat him?

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“Get him out,” he mentioned wearily.

The Braves scored six runs that inning after the looks of rookie relievers Brusdar Graterol and Victor González, and Kershaw wound up being charged with three of them, 4 general.

“Yeah, it’s a tricky approach to go in that sixth inning, for positive,” mentioned Kershaw, and what number of instances has he mentioned that? Kershaw now has a 4.31 postseason ERA compared to a 2.43 common season ERA, and though he wasn’t utterly guilty Thursday, that disparity will proceed to hang-out.

“That narrative couldn’t be farther from the reality,” Roberts mentioned. However it’s the fact, identical to the Dodgers’ postseason failings proceed to be a somber actuality on an evening when the perfect workforce in baseball was the worst workforce in October.

Once more.

Plaschke reported from Los Angeles.

This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Instances.