I suppose this entry is a day late. I actually gave up on the Dodgers when they lost that 13-inning game to St. Louis in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

I had just written an email to a friend — it was the 12th inning — saying that whoever won Game 1 would win the series. A few minutes later, Carlos Beltran smacked the game-ending hit.

And now it is 2-0 Cards.

A few years ago, I would have been writing about this series every day. The Dodgers were an integral part of my life. If I were not writing about them, I was a fan. One or the other. (But not really both, a condition professional sports writers will recognize.)

However, four years out of a country puts you at a remove. Interest remains, but fascination ebbs.

Anyway, the Cardinals are too solid, and the Dodgers too flawed to come back from 2-0 down.

It gets worse.

The Dodgers just threw Clayton Kershaw, and he was beaten 1-0. The best pitcher in the National League won’t pitch again before Game 6. If there is a Game 6, which would surprise me.

Meanwhile, the most experienced Cardinals pitcher, Adam Wainwright, has yet to throw at all. He will in Game 3, and could again, in Game 7, in the unlikely prospect of one being played.

I know this Dodgers team has been resilient, going from 30-42 to 72-50 with a historic 42-8 surge. The kind of surge that practically never happens in baseball.

But which was the “real” Dodgers? The worst in the NL West, at 30-42? Or the team that then went 42-8 and left us checking the archives for previous such streaks? (Turns out, no team had done better than 42-8 since the 1912 Giants.)

More probably, the Dodgers are the team that went 20-20 over the final 40 games. Ordinary. Dependent on two pitchers (Zack Greinke and Kershaw) and a few hitters (Hanley Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig). Kemp is out till next season, and Ramirez seems unable to play more than a few games without tweaking something. Even Andre Ethier, no star but at least a competent major leaguer, is dinged up and probably should not play.

The Dodgers in Game 2 used a lineup that might not win the Pacific Coast League, let alone defeat the best team in the National League.

I have a sense that this team used up all its luck (maybe projecting into the future, too) during that marvelous, ridiculous, unforgettable 42-8.

That they got to the NLCS is to their credit.

If they somehow escape this 2-0 hole, it will make them more remarkable yet.

I do not expect it to happen.