Dodgers try to end their heartbreaking ways in Cincinnati

The Dodgers try to stop their Free Fallin' of late, trying to end their five-game losing streak, facing on Tuesday night the last team they beat, opening up a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.

Even though the Dodgers are 0-5 over the last eight days, the Dodgers have lost all of one game in the standings during that span, telling the Giants, "Yer so Bad" for going 2-5 during that time, keeping the Dodgers atop the National League West by 1½ games.

The Reds hadn't won a game since their series at Dodger Stadium as well, dropping nine straight games before a 12-5 drubbing of the Tigers at home on Monday night, proving that Even the Losers get lucky sometimes.

While the bullpen is most-often cited as reason for the Dodgers' Breakdown of late, just about everything went wrong for the team in their five losses in American League parks last week.

The club scored nine runs in five games, and even though they appeared headed for a win on Sunday with a 2-0 lead and Clayton Kershaw on the mound, Houston would have been right to say "You Got Lucky" since both Los Angeles runs only scored thanks to three wild pitches.

The Dodgers still lead the National League by a fair margin with 148 home runs, but it would behoove them to get Something in the Air in Cincinnati after getting out-homered 5-0 by the Astros in their three-game weekend sweep in Houston.

The Dodgers have averaged just 3.91 runs per game since the All-Star break, 11th in the National League, and have scored three or fewer runs in seven of their last 10 games in Cincinnati, dating back to 2012. The Waiting for the offense to come around has truly been the hardest part of this season.

John Lamb struck out seven Dodgers in his major league debut 11 days ago in Los Angeles, but might have told both Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner, "You Wreck Me" after the game, after Gonzalez hit a three-run home run and Turner went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice fly. Lamb allowed five runs in six innings for the loss.

Alex Wood got the win on that night at Dodger Stadium, his one win in four starts with the Dodgers. Wood has allowed exactly three runs on five hits and three walks in each of his last three starts, but the team probably Needs to Know which Wood they are getting — the one who struck out eight in his Dodgers debut on Aug. 4, or the one who struck out nine of 71 batters (12.7 percent) in his last three starts combined.

The Dodgers have lost six straight series-opening games, and are 2-9 in such games since the All-Star break, so there might be some extra focus on Tuesday night just so the club Won't (go) Back Down to begin another series.

But enough about this Petty nonsense, there is baseball afoot on Tuesday. It's Time to Move On.

Game info

Time: 4:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA