The Orioles' recent record against American League East is dismal

There was a time when the Orioles were playing around .700 baseball at home and they were in first place in the American League East with a 24-13 (.649) record against division opponents.

But right now the Orioles don't win as much at home or against AL East opponents. They have lost four straight series in the division and lost last night 5-1 to Toronto at Camden Yards.

Any time the Orioles build a bit of positive momentum, it doesn't last. When they won a series at San Francisco, ending it with an incredible comeback win, they returned home and lost two in a row to Boston and went 1-5 in the first six games of that homestand. When they won three of four from the Nationals, they went to New York and got blown out Friday and Saturday. When they shutout the Yankees on Sunday, they came home last night and almost got shutout themselves.

The Orioles are 1-5 in their last six AL East games and 3-11 in the last 14. This stretch includes series where they went 1-3 at New York, 1-2 at Toronto, 0-2 versus Boston, 1-2 at New York and 0-1 to start the current series.

The Orioles have now fallen a season-high four games out of first place and it is certainly starting to look like they are just not good enough to win the division. The current 3-11 stretch against the AL East is rather telling.

None of this means they can't turn it around or that it's time to give up on the season. It is just hard to envision a turnaround the way they've looked for several weeks now. But yeah, a 9-2 run in the next 11 games or something like that would produce a whole different outlook.

It just doesn't seem like they are going to be able to do that. For now, what is right ahead of them is two more games with Toronto. While not calling them must-win at this point, they could sure use two wins to get back to within two games of first place.

About the attendance: It was surprising last night to see a crowd of only 15,532 at Camden Yards. It's a big series against a quality opponent. But Camden Yards did not have a big-game feel last night. Empty seats were plentiful.

No doubt the start of school impacts attendance and we hear this often around Baltimore. There must be other legitimate factors holding the crowds down.

We also know that weekend crowds are much better than weekday crowds and it doesn't seem to matter about the opponent. The fans will show up on the weekends.

Frankly, such a small turnout just didn't look good for the team, the town or the fans last night. I know the Orioles have plenty of great fans and I would never tell a fan how to spend or not spend his or her money.

It's just that the atmosphere wasn't great and the crowd was so small. Blue Jays fans were cheering for their team and of course, on the field, their team was giving their fans more to cheer for.

But during a season where the Orioles have a team with their biggest payroll ever and during a season where the Orioles have been in first place more than any other AL East team, the fans are not coming out in big numbers.