Latest loss brings more concern that Orioles will be on the outside looking in come October

Hopefully, yesterday's loss will not turn out to be a microcosm for an entire season for the Orioles. They rallied, they came close, they were right there until the last pitch. But they just didn't do enough to win.

It was frustrating for Birdland in a season where there have been a few frustrations.

The one-run loss on Sunday by a 5-4 score in 11 innings to the Los Angeles Angels meant the difference between being one game or three games out for the second wild card in the American League. They trail the Angels for that spot. This was a team the Orioles needed to beat head to head. But they came up a run short.

When they got swept by the Yankees, there were two one-run losses. When they split four games with Detroit, there was a one-run loss. They might have dropped the series finale in Oakland - where the third and deciding game was tied in the 10th - but a Chris Davis grand slam bailed them out.

A Davis homer in the sixth inning Sunday tied this game at 4-4. But after that hit, the Orioles went 3-for-19 at bat the rest of the game, putting just one runner in scoring position. Not quite good enough.

In the last of the third, Miguel Gonzalez struck out both Mike Trout and Albert Pujols with runners on first and third and the Orioles leading 2-1. But then he threw on 0-2 pitch down the middle, and David Murphy hit a three-run homer. Not quite good enough.

Brian Matusz was a pitch away from getting out of a jam in the 11th and battled back from a 3-1 count to throw back-to-back strikes to Murphy. The first went for a called strike, the second was fouled off. Then he threw another pitch, and Murphy blasted it to left to end the game. Not quite good enough.

So the Orioles are 56-54, and a small segment of fans have resumed the chorus that "the season is over." Well the Orioles have 52 games to play. Being three games out in one race and five in another is doable. There is plenty of time to overcome all that.

But after Sunday's loss to the Angels, the Orioles have now played 43 games this season against teams that are currently playing over .500 ball. They are just 16-27 in those games and 5-10 in those 15 series.

You guessed it, not quite good enough.

Manager Buck Showalter made a few decisions yesterday that can be debated. One was walking both Trout and Pujols in the 11th, so Matusz could go lefty on lefty against Murphy. But the bases were loaded by the walks and there was no room for error.

Another was not using his best reliever, Zach Britton, in that game. Britton warmed up at one point and he had three days off. He has pitched just once in August and that was Wednesday at Oakland, when he pitched in a tie game. But not yesterday.

Right now every Orioles loss brings frustration, both for the team and for its fans. They are close enough to still make this season something special. But with each missed chance, the concern is that they will come up short in 2015.