I’m not gonna brave-face this one.

Today’s Dodger game got off to a bitter start for me with the first-inning news that Trayvon Robinson, a Dodger prospect I had been eager to see for some time, had been traded away.

The hope that the bitter might turn to a short-term burst of sweet mostly ended right after shortstop Dee Gordon’s acrobatic catch-and-tag of leadoff batter Willie Bloomquist trying to steal second base in the first inning. The rest was a slog: a 6-3 Dodger defeat.

Rubby De La Rosa allowed two home runs in the second inning and remarkably reached the 100-pitch mark before his fourth inning ended. He finished with 103 pitches, but his relievers hardly accelerated the pace. By the time it was over, five Dodger pitchers had sent a whopping (and I don’t use that word recklessly) 209 pitches to get through the afternoon.

The nadir was another lost performance by Hong-Chih Kuo, who allowed four baserunnners in his 28-pitch inning, including a two-run homer to left-handed Gerardo Parra, his second blast of the game and 15th of his career in 343 games. Kuo is lost like a castaway, an unfortunate metaphor for this adrift 2011 Dodger team.

Of course, just like those any of those three newly acquired prospects could surprise and become useful major-leaguers, the Dodgers could surprise and come back today. Even on a dismal day, is there anything better to do than hope?

Down 6-1, Los Angeles scored once in the bottom of the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth, Jamey Carroll walked and Gordon singled. One out later, Tony Gwynn Jr. singled home Carroll, meaning that, after Aaron Miles flies out, a 4-for-4 Andre Ethier was the tying run and a 2-for-4 Matt Kemp was the winning run.

Ethier flied to right.

There will always be bright spots, and it’s good to keep the faith. But I’m now with my kids watching “The Princess Bride” (the source of the headline above), and sometimes it’s a matter of believing, as Westley does, “I can cope with torture.”