Cue the panic! Is Dodgers’ season about to implode (short answer -- no)

Gosh, the Dodgers suck. They’ve lost four of their last eight games. The Boston Red Sox played with them. They’ll be, what, probably five games out by the middle of September?

Or maybe not.

Just maybe this terrifying two-game losing streak ends Monday. You know, when Zack Greinke starts. Of if not, then the next day, when Clayton Kershaw heads to the mound.

It’s foreign stuff for the Dodgers, losing a series for the first time since June 14-16. Finding another team that looks back without fear, that can throw strong pitching, top defense and timely hitting at them.

“It’s never good for you to lose a series, but we’ll see how we respond,” Manager Don Mattingly said.

That could be interesting, watching how this team that had been chewing up everything in front of it comes back after losing its first series in its last 19 (14-1-4). Except it probably won’t be.

The streak likely ends Monday night. You have to kind of like Greinke over the Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta. The Dodgers are still maturing into the team they believe they are, so if the Boston series proves only slightly humbling, that’s still a good thing.

“It’s a good lesson for us,” Mattingly said.

The Dodgers managed only 11 hits in three games against the Red Sox. However true that the Red Sox did not have to face the Dodgers’ two aces, it’s just as true that the Dodgers offense was reduced to looking as if it was playing stick ball by Boston’s starters.

The Dodgers dream of a long postseason run, a run that would have them facing other teams with strong pitching.

“We’ll be looking forward to playing them again,” left-hander Chris Capuano said.

Which can only happen if they’re the last two teams standing in October.

“You want to focus on the task at hand and that’s to win our division,” infielder Nick Punto said. “But in the other league, that’s definitely one of those teams that has a chance to get to the postseason and beyond.”

Like the Dodgers. Unless, of course, you actually believe their world is about to crumble.