'Disappointed' Dodgers make another early postseason exit - ESPN

PHOENIX — The suddenness has become common, but it hasn't become easier. As the Arizona Diamondbacks' rowdy celebration transitioned from their clubhouse to the Chase Field pool and back late Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers shuffled through the visiting clubhouse quietly, solemnly, another exhilarating summer spilling into a disheartening autumn, an all-too-familiar outcome for an otherwise triumphant franchise.

This time it was a young, scrappy, confident Arizona team that bludgeoned their starting pitchers, suffocated their best hitters and hardly ever let the 100-win Dodgers come up for oxygen.

«They kept punching us in the face, and we weren't able to get back up,» Los Angeles utility man Enrique Hernandez said after a 4-2, season-ending loss in Game 3 of this National League Division Series. «There's not a lot of words other than hurt, disappointed, frustrated. We're a little embarrassed.»

The D-backs, 16 wins worse than the Dodgers during the regular season, scored six first-inning runs off Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 and three first-inning runs off Bobby Miller in Game 2. In Game 3, Arizona took a 4-0 lead off four third-inning home runs against Lance Lynn — the major league leader in homers allowed — and didn't need much else.

The Dodgers became only the second team in baseball history to win 100 games during the regular season and never have so much as a lead during an ensuing postseason series, joining the 1963 New York Yankees, who were swept in the World Series by the Dodgers of another time. It marked the third straight year the Dodgers were eliminated in the postseason by a team they finished more than 15 games better than during the regular season. In each of the past two years, they were defeated