Jim Johnson

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Pitcher Jim Johnson acknowledges that going into the season, he couldn't have imagined becoming the Orioles' top setup man. That's why Johnson, a converted starter, hesitates to talk about his role with the team next year, knowing how quickly things can change. The Orioles, however, will spend some time over the coming weeks discussing where Johnson fits in their long-term plans. Is it in a rotation that has been dogged by lengthy injuries and ineffectiveness? Does he make the transition to closer with George Sherrill potentially being dealt and Chris Ray's health still in question?

Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg has been a major league closer long enough to know the formula for long-term, late-inning success. The key ingredient: a short memory. This time last year, Gregg was coming off arguably his best major league season, setting a career high with 37 saves with the Blue Jays. The Orioles rewarded him with a two-year, $10 million contract with a third-year option. A year later, he enters spring training as an enigma. His seven blown saves last year opened the door for Jim Johnson to take over save chances late in the season.

SARASOTA, Fla. - In an otherwise meaningless exhibition against an obviously undermanned Spain World Baseball Classic team, Orioles manager Buck Showalter accomplished something important Wednesday afternoon. He found work for relievers Jim Johnson , Darren O'Day and Luis Ayala - all of whom were key parts of the club's outstanding bullpen in 2012 and all of whom had not pitched in a game this spring. Showalter wants to keep their innings and workload down, but he also has to get them ready for April.

Each Wednesday, blogger Matt Vensel will highlight five statistics that really mean something for the Orioles. 2.41 -- Chris Tillman's ERA in his six road starts this season. Tillman picked up his sixth win of the season Sunday, allowing three runs (two earned) in six innings against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. It was yet another quality start for Tillman on the road. Tillman is 5-0 on the road this season with a 2.41 ERA. He has pitched at least five innings in each of those games, all Orioles victories.

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman might not be the biggest name in pitching in the major leagues right now, but his performance over the past two seasons ranks among the best. Since the beginning of the 2012 season, Tillman is 16-5 for a .762 winning percentage. That winning percentage is the fourth-best in all of baseball for players with at least 20 decisions. Tillman ranks behind only Cincinnati's Mat Latos (.833), Detroit's Max Scherzer (.781) and St. Louis's Lance Lynn (.765)

Jim Johnson's baseball dreams were born just off the banks of the Susquehanna River in the quaint upstate New York town of Endicott. The river flowed just past the left-field line of his high-school baseball field. With a population of about 13,000, it's the epitome of Small Town, USA. This is where Johnson - a self-described 'grinder' - spent his time between the baseball field and the local firehouse, where he was a volunteer firefighter. Had he not pursued baseball, he would have been a fireman.

TORONTO -- The Orioles plan to recall right-hander Steve Johnson as an extra relief arm if the club's bullpen gets extended tonight against the Blue Jays. Johnson, a St. Paul's grad, was scratched from his scheduled start Friday at Triple-A Norfolk and could join the team in Toronto on Saturday. The Orioles bullpen accounted for four innings in Thursday's 12-6 loss to the Blue Jays, and manager Buck Showalter intentionally stayed away from relievers Jim Johnson, Darren O'Day and Tommy Hunter as a safeguard.

The Orioles' 17-game extra-inning winning streak ended Wednesday afternoon, but the team's 100-game winning streak when leading at the completion of the seventh inning is still alive and well heading into the Orioles' 11-day, 11-game West Coast road trip, which begins tonight in Oakland. When that streak - which dates back to Aug. 8, 2011 - reached the century mark after Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Blue Jays, closer Jim Johnson noted that the streak coincided with the time when the Orioles began to turn things around.

The Baltimore sports scene is blessed with a bunch of talented bloggers who bring their unique perspective to the conversation. Each week, I hope to chat with one of them in a regular feature called Blogger on Blogger. This week, I exchanged emails with Amanda Redman, who blogs about the Orioles for the Birds Watcher blog . MV: The Orioles entered Monday night's AL East showdown with the New York Yankees with five straight losses, all at home. I know there is still a long way and many, many games between now and late September, but are you concerned that these Orioles might be finally falling back to Earth?

You could pick a number of storylines from a sticky, summer-like Tuesday evening at Camden Yards and really not go wrong. There was the obvious, made-for-TV clip of Nate McLouth lifting a game-ending homer over the right-field wall in the bottom of the 10 th inning to give the Orioles a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees and snap a season-worst six-game losing streak.  There was maligned closer Jim Johnson (2-4) throwing an eight-pitch, perfect 10 th inning to pick up the win after blowing three consecutive saves in the last week.