Continuing to stay upbeat amid all the losses in 2019

TORONTO - During a season where the 2019 Orioles suffered countless brutal losses, they kept coming back for more and sometimes emerged victorious.

We can't give them too much credit for continuing to play since that is the job. But they kept their enthusiasm and energy up and never seemed to get too far down after losses like Monday's 15-inning affair at Rogers Centre. They won 11-4 the next time out with a very solid performance. They lost 3-2 last night, but even then rallied late and pulled within one run.

The players have often cited manager Brandon Hyde and the coaching staff for keeping them upbeat through 106 losses. So I wondered what kept Hyde going? No surprise, his answer quickly turned away from anything about him and he made it more about those around him.

"This is kind of who we are," Hyde said in the dugout before last night's game. "I've never seen a team have so many tough losses in six months. We seem to always come back the next day and either win or play a really close game and maybe have a tough loss again. But look at our last couple of weeks and we've had a chance to win every single game.

"I credit our players, our coaching staff and I think credit goes to the environment we've tried to create here, which is one where we're going to show up to compete and win every single night. You never know what the result was in our clubhouse from the day before. Think that is a real positive thing and pretty rare.

"You can get frustrated but try not to let the players see it. Two nights ago, that game bothered me and I was trying to fight that all day (Tuesday) to not let anyone see that I was still wearing it a little bit. I think the coaches help me too, we help each other out and we have a real positive group."

And the Orioles continued to stay upbeat even when the pitching often came up short. Monday night was a recent example where the team lost three leads in that game.

"I think we're realistic but also you want to win those games," said Hyde. "You look at the Detroit series, should have won all four of those games. Seattle, should have won all three. Should have won two of three at home versus Toronto and we got swept.

"My frustration is more that I feel like so many of our guys are putting so much into it. Like Trey Mancini. He really takes the losses hard. I want them to feel what it feels like to win. I feel sorry for some guys sometimes, because they are trying so hard to win and something happens late in the game and it doesn't happen.

"I think there is going to be a day sometime soon where we are going to win those games. And our guys will look back at this and be better because of it."

O's lose series finale: The Orioles lost 3-2 last night to lose the final game of the Toronto series. They battled back with two runs in the eighth, but left the bases loaded and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Mancini went 0-for-3 with a run scored as his 11-game hitting streak ended. He was asked again after this latest defeat what it's been like to lose so much this year.

"It certainly hasn't been fun," he said. "But you have to look for little things throughout the season, especially now in September. I think there have been some really good bright spots, so you look forward to that moving on into next year. So looking forward to this group sticking together and getting things rolling in spring training."

Now the Orioles head to Boston to wrap up the 2019 season.

"We have three games left, so we will play like we have every other game and leave it out on the field, win or lose. You can't really have any other mindset then that at this level or it's probably not going to go well for you."

The Orioles (52-107) are now 27-51 in road games, 22-51 versus the American League East, 8-11 against Toronto, 32-69 in night games, 11-21 in one-run games, 7-17 this month and 5-13 in rubber-match games.

I covered my final game of the year last night. But we'll still have in game blogs during the Boston series and I'll host "Extra Innings" radio postgame shows after each game from Fenway Park. Still a bit more to do in the 2019 season.