Robert Andino was sent to the minor leagues at the end of Spring Training to make room on the roster for utility player Julio Lugo. Since then, Andino has been called up and has played in a utility role for Buck Showalter.

Andino has made an impression on the O's manager and may be making a case for a spot on the roster in 2011.

Dave tells Mark Viviano his thoughts on Jeremy Guthrie being the O's ace.

For all of Dave's thoughts, watch the full interview below.

With the O's needing a starter for Saturday, Dave talked with Amber Theoharis about the Birds' options and the likelihood of Brad Bergesen getting the nod.

Dave also touched on who might get sent down if the O's do, in fact, make a roster move and call up a starter from the minors, and he gave his thoughts on Garrett Atkins' future in Baltimore.

I have said many times that you should not give up on starting pitchers too soon. The hardest thing to find and the most expensive thing to buy is starting pitching.

It's also the most fragile part of your team. That's why I feel you should not give up too soon on your young arms. It takes awhile for some guys to figure it out.

Because of the situation with the Orioles bullpen this year, it seemed like a necessity to move Hernandez to the bullpen, and he has thrown well in the limited opportunities he has had so far.

It looks like he may be moving toward the back end of the game. He may be able to dial it up a notch or two with the one-inning-at-a-time type outings.

Maybe this role will suit him and we can forget about the misery of the closer merry-go-round.

Good luck to Dave Hernandez, and let's hope the Orioles can score some runs - Otherwise, we won't need a closer...

It sure is nice to see the starting staff go deep into games with regularity. We really have seen the Orioles starters pitch well. With the exception of Bergy's first three starts, the starters have been pretty good.

I know Hernandez has had a couple bad ones in there and Guthrie had one too. But, nobody is going 34-0 for the season on anybody's team.

They are going to have bad starts and get whacked around some. It happens to all pitchers. The Orioles starters have been good enough for this team to have more wins than losses.

It's just that the offense has been utterly offensive. If they don't get the offense in gear, I'm afraid the starters may start to try and be too fine and may end up walking some guys and getting behind the batters.

This is only natural when you pitch for a poor offensive club. You start to feel like you can't give up a run or you will lose. That's not what you want your starters to be thinking on the mound before every pitch.

I know you go into every start trying to pitch a shutout, but when you think you HAVE to throw a shutout to win, that's not a good thought pattern for your pitchers.

I am so glad that Rhyne got off to a fast start. It is so important to hit the ground running when you make your major league debut.

With two hits Saturday and two more on Sunday, Rhyne should be able to relax a little and let his ability shine through.

I am so happy for him and his family. I just don't understand why many people think you are washed up if you have not been to the big leagues by the age of 22 or 23. (Hughes is 26.)

He can swing the bat and looks like he can handle first base as well. If he can provide a little spark to this team, great for him and the Orioles!

Good luck Rhyne. I hope you have a long career in the big leagues. If it only lasts for a few days or a few weeks, congratulations anyway. You are a big leaguer, and nobody can ever take that way from you.

People booing the Birds has been a topic almost everywhere I've gone in the last week or so - though about 98% of people say that they would not boo their own players.

I know you can get caught up in the moment when things go wrong. The impulse is to boo a bad play or bad results. I get it.

But, as a fan of a team, I don't think you should boo your own players when they come off the field or are introduced to the fans. If they do something on or off the field that reflects negatively to your team and/or city, that is different.

If one of my players makes an error, I'll support him. If he flips off the fans, I'll boo him every chance I get.

It's your right to boo if you want to. I just think that supporting your team is being more of a fan.

So, if you buy a ticket and you want to boo, then boo. It's your right as a fan and ticket holder. I don't need to hear that you have the right to boo. I don't need to hear why you think you should be booing. I know you have the right to Boo.

We have many rights that may or may not be appropriate to do on a Sunday afternoon in the ninth inning at Camden Yards. That doesn't mean I'm going to exercise them all every time I go to the park.

Look, if you buy a ticket to the games and want to boo, then boo until you can't make a sound. It's your right! But, I choose to support the guys as long as I see 100% effort on the field.

We have now been through the rotation once. So far so good. Recently, I have talked about how this year was going to be different - Mainly because of our starting rotation.

With Kevin Millwood as the anchor and some of the young guys with major league experience, we could see consistent starting pitching.

If that happens, this could be the year we save the bullpen and avoid the disaster that we've seen the past eight to 10 years. I really think that this year will be a step in the right direction.

I am mostly impressed with Dave Hernandez.

He came to spring training and took the bull by the horns.

I'm sure he knew that Chris Tillman had the inside track to the fifth spot in the rotation. He took that as a challenge and went after it big time.

He threw a lot of strikes and got the job done.

Chris didn't pitch poorly, but Dave pitched even better and deserved the ball on the fifth day of the year.

And he didn't disappoint that day, going six innings and giving up just two runs.

Let's see if it plays out the way I see it after a few times through.

-Dave

Let's face it: Opening Day is the best day of the year.

Well, maybe you're just not a baseball fan. But for me, it is the best day of the year.

I'm looking forword to this season for many reasons. This is the year that many of the young birds should take the next step.

I can't wait to see the pitchers that came up last year use their experience to their advantage.

Matusz should solidify his spot in the rotation. Let's see if Bergeson can continue to do what he did last year, or will the league adjust to the sinker and make him throw more pitches up and out over the plate.

Can Jones do anything close offensively to what he did in the first two months of last year? Will he take the advice of the coaches and play deeper in center?

I hope that Reimold will be 100% before April comes to a close. Is Wieters ready to be more consistent defensively as well as offensively?

These are just a couple of things that have me excited about Opening Day 2010.

Oh yea, I'm looking forward to Steve starting the year in Bowie and making his mark here with the Orioles organization. Good Luck to everybody in the Orioles family and here's to a healthy, successful season.

There are many others that I didn't mention. I'm not forgetting them - We'll talk about them during the season here on my blog. I welcome your comments and will try to get to them as soon as I can. Have a fun season.

I guess you can go with "Expect the Unexpected." This has been a crazy summer for the Johnson family.

Of course, most of you know my oldest son, Steve, was with the Dodgers organization. He had a goal to get to AA this season--he just had no idea that would be in Bowie, Maryland.

He was having a good season at Inland Empire, the High-A team for the Dodgers. After the minor league All-Star break, he got the idea that it was possible that he might be moved to Chattanooga, the Double-A team for the Dodgers. When he finally got the call, he went there and pitched great.

Then that crazy day with the postgame show with Tom Davis at Camden Yards came along. When the trade for George Sherrill went down, I could not believe it. I was very happy, but concerned as well.

Steve had spent the better part of five seasons making a name for himself with the Dodgers. I was hoping he wouldn't put so much pressure on himself that he would try to do too much in first couple of games with Bowie.

In his second start, he pitched in Fenway Park on TV. I was doing the Orioles pregame show while watching Steve pitch on the Internet during the breaks. He pitched well in Fenway Park.

When Steve finally got home, everyone was saying "I'll see you at Steve's game." - I had to keep telling them that Tera would be there, but I would be working on the pre- and post-game shows. It was strange having Steve so close and still not being able to go see him pitch. Hey, I'm not complaining. I'm very fortunate to have the best job I've ever had in my life.

It was great for Steve to live at home and be able to catch up with his high school buddies. They got to go see him pitch and then hangout with him after the games back at home.

It's still kind of odd realizing that my son actually has a chance to pitch for the Orioles one day. Wow!! Can you imagine that? I'm still trying to take it all in. I didn't expect this at all.

Finally, in case you're interested in how Steve has been progressing...
-He capped off his 2009 season by being named the Eastern League's Pitcher of the Week.

-Steve's goal this season was to get to AA by the end of the year. Mission accomplished and more. He not only had a solid campaign at Inland Empire for the Dodgers' High-A affiliate, but he was promoted to Chattanooga in the AA Southern League.

-While at Chattanooga, Steve pitched 2 games before he was traded to the Orioles with teammate Josh Bell for George Sherrill. They were both assigned to Bowie of the Double-A Eastern League. Both players adapted well and performed admirably for Bowie down the stretch. Josh hit .289 with 9 home runs for Bowie and combined with his .296 and 11 home runs at Chattanooga, he finished his first Double-A season at .295 with 20 HRs. Way to go Josh!

Steve finished strong as well. After 2 games in Chattanooga, he was 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA. After the trade he pitched 7 games for Bowie where he compiled a 3-2 record with a 2.84 ERA. He won his last 3 starts and was named Pitcher of the Week for the Eastern League, and he won 12 games for the 2nd consecutive year.

-This was Steve's fifth year of professional baseball, as he signed out of high school at 17. He must be protected on the Major League roster or be subject to the Rule 5 Draft in December. Here is hoping he did enough to be promoted to the 40 man roster and go to camp with the Major League Club next spring.

Obviously, I am very proud of how he has handled himself as a professional baseball player. There are many people who have helped in many ways. I thank you for your help and hope you share a little pride in Steve's success to this point in his career.

Thank you for your support,

Dave Johnson

It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or a baseball scout for that matter, to see that Kam Mickolio has progressed greatly in the past year.

His delivery is much more smooth and consistent. He is free and easy and looking good.

The way he is throwing right now is encouraging to say the least. You have to give him and everybody who has worked with him over the last 11 months a lot of credit. To make even subtle changes in someone's delivery is not easy to do.

We have seen guys come and go over the past 10 years who have had an enormous upside. But, when they went back to the minors to tune up and get better, we saw the same guy over and over again. Not this time.

The way Kam threw his plus fastball and changeup last night was very encouraging. He has thrown two consecutive outings with very similar stuff and command. That's nice to see.

Let's hope he can continue to dominate at this level and add to the promise of the young pitchers the Orioles have been able to add to the organization.

Good Luck to Kam and congrats to him and the people who helped him get back here successfully.

I talked about Felix Pie a little bit before. I was not sold on Felix and did not see all the tools that he supposedly had going for him.

In the first two months, he struggled as much as anyone could struggle. He threw to wrong bases or not to any base or person at all. Some things have not changed. But, others have changed dramatically.

Last night Felix had a great night with the bat. Hitting for the cycle at the major league level is a feat very few players have ever accomplished. I mean, it's up there with some very good company when it comes to former Oriole greats: Brooks, Cal and Huff. OK, Huff might not be an Oriole great, but he did it.

Pie is still not the best defensive player in the league. He still lacks baseball instincts and makes some throws and decisions that make you shake your head in disbelief. But, last night he had one of the best nights a player could have offensively. It was well deserved and good for him.

I talked to Terry Crowley a few weeks ago around the cages and he told me that I would see a different hitter the next time Felix got a chance to play. He was right on the money.

Felix has worked as hard as any player on the team. It shows that with talent and hard work, things can turn around.

Congratulations to Felix Pie. What a great night for him and I hope he can get all aspects of his game together to help the Orioles this season.