Exactly as ugly as it sounds: Dodgers pounded by Rockies, 16-2

Ol’ Blue Eyes had nothing on these Dodgers. Riding high in April, shot down in May? Try riding high Monday, shot down by Wednesday. That’s some serious maneuvering.

That’s life for the Dodgers at the moment. Feeling like they’re on the express lane one moment, a rocky dirt road the next.

They were feeling pretty good after taking the last two games in San Francisco over the weekend and then the opener in Colorado on Monday to push their division lead to four games.

Not so good Wednesday after dropping their second consecutive game to the worst team in baseball, this one an absolute 16-2 pounding by the Rockies at Coors Field.

The Dodgers’ biggest concern becomes this: Can they win the National League West and head confidently into the playoffs with only two reliable starting pitchers?

The Dodgers are badly missing sore-shouldered Hyun-Jin Ryu and it was never made clearer than Wednesday when his replacement, rookie Carlos Frias, made the wrong kind of history.

Frias became the first pitcher in baseball’s modern era to give up 10 hits while getting fewer than three outs in a game.

Those 10 hits led to eight runs, a Rockies record for most runs scored in the first inning.

The Rockies eased up and finished with only a total of 21 hits, five by Charlie Blackmon. The Dodgers, meanwhile, managed six hits. Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau drove in six runs.

The Dodgers have only 10 games left in the regular season. Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke can’t start all of them. And when they don’t start, the Dodgers are in serious trouble.

Right now Dan Haren is in the third spot, and he is coming off a horrible Tuesday outing. Roberto Hernandez has a 6.14 earned-run average in his last five starts and hasn’t pitched out of the fifth inning in his last three starts.

And then there is Frias, who was making only his second start in the majors. You can hardly fault the 24-year-old right-hander. But the sobering reality is, the Dodgers really have no one else to slip into Ryu’s spot.

Would you rather have Kevin Correia (7.23 ERA as a Dodger)? Jamey Wright? Drew Butera?

Frias’ next turn would only be … Monday against the Giants. Ryu is not expected back by then, and it’s uncertain whether he’ll be able to make any starts before the regular season ends.

This is called trouble. And, no, you can’t just go back to Monday.

Wednesday, the Dodgers trailed 15-0 before Darwin Barney hit a solo home run in the eighth. All that was left was a plane ride to their next stop in Chicago for four games before coming home to meet the Giants for three.

By then, their roller coaster could have made several more maneuvers. That’s baseball life, or so all the people say.

Twitter: @stevedilbeck