For the Dodgers, no Andre Ethier, no Matt Kemp ... no hope?

Actually thought it couldn’t get any worse did you?

Silly. Snowballs pick up size and speed heading downhill, and right now the Dodgers are falling like Gibraltar is tied to their ankles.

It’s not bad enough that the Dodgers are in freefall in the National League West and can’t hit Dee Gordon’s weight. Now they are a team without a star position player.

Because now Andre Ethier is out, and he figures to be for awhile.

Ethier somehow strained his left oblique in the first inning Wednesday in San Francisco, left the game and will likely be placed on the disabled list Thursday.

You know, to give Matt Kemp company.

If the sky is not falling, then no one’s ever heard of Chicken Little. Ethier and Kemp have accounted for 22 of the Dodgers’ 45 home runs. The Dodgers’ current home-run leader is …A.J. Elliswith six.

Oblique injuries were the rage early last season, and a study by team senior director of medical services Stan Conte found that the average position player who suffered a strained rib-cage muscle went on the DL for an average of 31 days.

Kemp is not expected back until after the July 10 All-Star break. If Ethier is out an average amount of time, he would not return until the end of July.

The Dodgers were a modest offensive team with Kemp and Ethier, constantly finding themselves in one-run games, and are now going to be seriously challenged to score enough to remain competitive in the National League West.

Without their third and fourth hitters, the Dodgers are about to field some interesting daily lineups.

Of course, it could still get worse. Somehow.

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