You know this is different because of the way it feels, just as you knew that March, 4-0 loss at the New York Red Bulls was more than one bad day on the road. The larger context persuades you, just as the context of a loss at the LA Galaxy to open the season told you the Red Bulls result was more than a one-off.
To many of us, the last two games for the Portland Timbers feel more like a bad week on the road. The team had lost the Saturday before they departed and, amid the three home games that preceded that defeat to Vancouver, there were already warning signs.