SAN DIEGO -- The playoffs begin in four weeks. There's still time for the Padres to make a serious run at the National League West . There's time for them to make a push for a first-round bye. There's certainly still time for Petco Park to host a Wild Card Series , at the very least.

But that time isn’t infinite. And there’s less of it with every missed opportunity.

The Padres lost, 6-2 , to the Orioles on Tuesday night -- the fourth time in five days they’ve lost a game to an opponent very much outside the playoff picture.

It would be an overstatement to call this an inflection point for the Padres. They remain squarely in the playoff picture with a roster that figures to conform very well to the rigors of postseason baseball. But there’s a measure of adversity that San Diego is

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