Five in a row had a whole new meaning on Wednesday night in Southern California as the Los Angeles Galaxy poured a fistful of goals past a hapless Portland Timbers, who saw their much-ballyhooed winning streak come to a halting end in shocking fashion.

It finished 5-0 to the Galaxy—the worst defeat for Portland in the Caleb Porter era, and tied for the worst defeat in the franchise's MLS history. What was worse than that ignominy, however, was a needless red card picked up by defensive stalwart Liam Ridgewell, who will now be suspended for the Sunday derby with Seattle.

It was a total train wreck, one that, despite the heavily mounting number of games for the Timbers, wasn't even remotely foreseeable. Remember, this Timbers team hadn't lost in over a month, and had conceded one goal in its last four MLS games.

All those good vibes are suddenly gone now, but the Timbers have to bounce back quickly. Their biggest game of the season is in three days.

That's why Ridgewell's red card, for a flying karate kick on Alan Gordon, is so unbelievably frustrating. It was an utterly needless act of aggression from an experienced professional, coming with just over 10 minutes to go in the game and the Timbers already trailing by four goals.

The Timbers have had a bad history of key players picking up suspensions before Seattle games—in 2013 it was Diego Chara, last year it was Donovan Ricketts, this year it's Ridgewell—and so Norberto Paparatto, who himself had a proper meltdown before the Sounders game he started last year, will have to fill in.

Good thing Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins won't be around for Seattle—if you're scoring at home, that's now three of the team's six combined designated players out for sure, another in Osvaldo Alonso potentially out, and another in Fanendo Adi potentially coming off the bench. Only Diego Valeri is assured a key part in proceedings this weekend.

The game against the Galaxy will be viewed in light of how the Timbers respond going forward. If they respond well, then it's just an aberration. If they don't respond well, it will be looked at as the beginning of a potentially season-altering stretch.

Portland played its first choice team, with the exception Will Johnson, and that, coupled with a solid first 10 minutes, made the ensuing beat-down some kind of surreal. But the Galaxy were terrific, and the Timbers just weren't at the races.

Led by the efforts of two players who by and large missed their subpar start to the season, new signing Sebastian Lleget and defending league MVP Robbie Keane, LA oozed class, energy, and creativity in the final third all night long. The Galaxy have now scored five goals in back-to-back games, with those 10 goals being scored by eight different players.

Los Angeles, who add Steven Gerrard in a few weeks, remain the team to beat. Bruce Arena remains the coach to beat. And as good as the Timbers have been recently, they're not even close to the Galaxy when LA is at full strength.

Alvas Powell in particular was given a clinic, exposed time and again for his lack of awareness defensively. The day Powell stops compensating for his poor ability to read the game with his freakish speed and athletic ability is the day he becomes an MLS All-Star and big European signing, not before.

Jack Jewsbury was ineffective against the Galaxy's midfield machine, and it was his giveaway that directly led to the fourth goal for Juninho. Diego Chara had some rough moments, Diego Valeri looked rusty, Maxi Urruti was at his pedestrian worst, and it was very clear, very early on that Timbers just didn't have any answers.

No one, besides Ridgewell, will rip their hair out over the result of this match. That's what winning five in a row coming in buys you: a pass. This kind of result happens. Once a year. Going to LA midweek in the middle of a stretch of six games in 21 days was always going to be a big ask.

Obviously this Galaxy team is a lot different than the one that Portland drew 2-2 at home in March. Arena has LA rounding, as usual, into its best form around the midway point of the season. There's a reason that now, with the breakup of Jason Kreis' Real Salt Lake, the Galaxy is the team that Caleb Porter most admires in MLS.

The Galaxy are the class of the league, and the Timbers got the class of the Galaxy on Wednesday night. It's not an excuse—this is a team that Portland will have to go toe-to-toe with if it wants to win the West—but it's something to keep in mind. This is about as tough a matchup as the Timbers will see all year.

Johnson was a big miss in this match, when the Timbers needed way more work in the central midfield, along with more intelligence from wide defenders across all areas of the pitch, to compete—but you better believe the captain will be raring to go against the Sounders.

That's what this is now. A race to the next match. Seattle lost too on Wednesday night in Philadelphia, while resting a number of starters. Both teams will want to erase the taste of previous defeats, and the Sounders, of course, have a further score to settle dating back to the Open Cup game last week.

This 5-0 drubbing at LA will live long in the Timbers record books, but not in the memory if Portland can turn around and beat the Sounders in a game that matters more than ever now. Good teams have bad games. Then they respond. We'll see what the Timbers are made of on Sunday.