DENVER • The Dodgers don’t ruin everything. Sometimes it just seems that way.

This is shaping into a robust Rockies season. It can be an unforgettable season, in fact, because these are the Rockies the Rockies expected to be: entering Tuesday (an 8-2 late loss to the Houston Astros in 10 innings) and since June 19 they were 19-8, the best record in the National League; show a pitching staff with a 3.70 team ERA, third in the NL; an offense that’s slowly but surely found its stride with a .283 batting average, second in the NL.

Delightful!

But the Dodgers.

Already atop the National League West, L.A. added a 26-year-old shortstop with 24 home runs. They already led the NL in home runs.

The Dodgers needed Manny Machado like Coors Field needs another acre of outfield. Yes, here come the Rockies … and there go the Dodgers.

And the Dodgers should be a consideration as the Rockies approach the trade deadline. The Dodgers are pushing and shoving to end a 30-year championship drought. They have so many good players they can afford to ship five of them to the Orioles for Machado and not blink an eye.

The Rockies should not fall into the trap of mortgaging a bright future for three months of maybes — not with the Dodgers doing what they’re doing. Before the Machado injection, the Dodgers and the National League West were there to be had. And I wrote as much.

But what’s going on in Los Angeles is too much.

What, LeBron James wasn’t enough?

The Rockies should give this thing a run with what they have — plus a capable catcher, if possible, and another middle reliever, if possible. But the big deals we all clamor about? The ones that cost an arm, a leg and Brendan Rodgers?

The Rockies should just say no to drugs, and any deadline deal that sends Rodgers, their top prospect, elsewhere. The Rockies love Rodgers like biscuits and gravy, and they should. With Nolan Arenado possibly on the way out, now is no time to be trading away your best infield prospect. Keeping up with the Joneses — the Dodgers — is no way for the Rox to do business.

When the sky finally cleared after a thunderstorm of Revelations proportions, 43,184 folks packed into Coors Field to see the Rockies host the Houston Astros.

Speaking of perfect teams, the world champs show no holes.

And for one Tuesday night the Rox were almost an equal match. They clawed back from a 2-0 deficit to force extra innings. The Rockies are a team to be reckoned with, as the champs found out.

They are good enough to remain in playoff contention without selling the farm for an arm.

(Contact Gazette sports columnist Paul Klee at paul.klee@gazettedev.gazette.com or on Twitter at @bypaulklee.)