Jim Johnson

In talking about Jim Johnson's path to becoming one of the top closers in the game, Orioles manager Buck Showalter often compares Johnson to all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera. That's obviously a difficult comparison, but Showalter has talked about how Rivera didn't “cheat the system” and about how he worked his way up through the late innings until he was ready to become the Yankees closer, and that helped him flourish. In his role, Johnson has done the same. On Wednesday, he tied a franchise record by converting his 34thconsecutive save opportunity, equaling Randy Myers' mark set in 1997.

Each Wednesday, blogger Matt Vensel will highlight five statistics that really mean something for the Orioles. 58.9 -- the number of saves Orioles closer Jim Johnson is on pace for this season. Jim Johnson got his 12th save in Tuesday night's 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals, tying him for second in baseball behind Jason Grilli of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Johnson has converted all 12 save opportunities in 2013. We are nearing the quarter pole of the 2013 season, and Johnson is on pace to record more than 50 saves for a second straight season (he had a club-record 51 in 2012)

The Orioles won three of four in Oakland, and most of the correspondence I received from fans Sunday was about how they blew the series finale. That's a good sign, I guess. You aren't content with any loss. Been a long time since that was the case (OK, so maybe in the past you weren't content, just resigned.) Anyway, as I flew to Seattle from Oakland after Sunday's game, a couple things stuck with me based on your tweets and emails. One: Many of you are unhappy with reliever Pedro Strop.

Throwing a game away - literally - doesn't usually sit well with teams, especially when they are attempting to establish themselves as consistent winners. So when the Orioles dropped a 9-8, 10-inning loss to the Oakland A's Sunday afternoon on consecutive poor throws following sacrifice bunt attempts, it would be understandable if the players were chewing nails in post-game interviews. For the most part, that was not the case - not after the Orioles (15-10) took three of four in their personal pain chamber, the Oakland Coliseum, to kick off a brutal, three-city, 11-game West Coast swing.

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.

When the topic of winning streaks arose before Wednesday afternoon's game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Orioles manager Buck Showalter insisted that his players don't pay much attention to them. “I don't think they had a thing up there where they were X'ing out [and saying] 'There's one more,'” Showalter deadpanned. “Our guys, they don't get too bogged down.” But later Wednesday, a streak that has defined the Orioles' resilience ended as they dropped a 6-5 decision in 11 innings at Camden Yards, snapping their remarkable franchise-record run of 17 straight regular-season extra-inning wins.

Members of the Orioles starting rotation have had their struggles getting deep into games, but right-hander Jason Hammel gave the team a gritty six-inning effort against the Dodgers in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader. Through 16 games, no Orioles starter has yet to last more than six innings. Still, the way Hammel battled through early pitch-count problems was key to the series-opening victory. It also served as an example to the rest of the rotation. Hammel struggled through a 32-pitch first inning that saw the Orioles go down early on Andre Ethier's three-run homer.

In a win that was marred by a knee injury to designated hitter Wilson Betemit, the Orioles outslugged the Boston Red Sox, 12-9, on Monday while hitting five of the game's seven home runs. A swirling wind at Ed Smith Stadium turned routine fly balls into hits and hard-hit flyballs into home runs as the clubs combined for 33 hits. Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the second, Betemit tied the game with a three-run home run against Boston's Graham Godfrey. Betemit later had a sacrifice fly to give him four RBIs on Monday and six total in his past two games.

Steve Johnson, as is his nature, isn't going away quietly in the fight for the fifth spot in the rotation. Johnson, who has earned a reputation as a never-give-up battler, threw four scoreless innings to lead the Orioles to a victory over the Minnesota Twins, 7-1, Sunday at Ed Smith Stadium. Johnson gave up three hits, one walk and hit a batter, but always made the pitch to get out of trouble. He threw 67 pitches, 40 of them for strikes. "I was behind a lot of hitters, but I battled back.