It’s a new season and NEBL.com is not renewing my contract for another year. The reason I was given is that there are so many bloggers now that it’s no longer a novelty. Oh, and that I write too much about things that are happening outside the lines. I was told I could keep the blog on a provisional basis but I thought it wouldn’t be worth it, so this is my farewell to everyone.

But real quick I wanted to talk about Providence. The King Cats were in a desperate situation. They were having trouble fielding a complete team. I said was looking for someplace where I could make a difference. Well, I think I’ve found it. And it doesn’t hurt that Derek’s here.

About that. Derek and I are friends. Not even “friends with benefits”. I thought it would be cool to pitch in the same rotation with him. I used to have a rule that I wouldn’t date anyone on my team. I’ll make an exception for Derek. Assuming he wants to, of course. I’m a veteran and he’s a young guy. That might be a problem.

So anyway, back to the farewells. I want to thank my parents for everything. I want to thank NEBL.com for letting me blog these last seven years. I want to thank my teammates. On Hartford and Allentown as well as here in Providence. I want to especially thank you, the readers. I’m going to miss blogging.

Here are your 2013 All-Stars:

P Ryan Larson from Allentown
P Weiss King from Allentown
P Oscar Cassas from Allentown
C Dominic Brooks from Allentown
1B Alex Buckley from Allentown
LF Kevin McNeal from Alllentown

Congratulations to all our boys and I look forward to watching them on TV.

What happens when the boys do score runs when I start a game? Judging by the last game, I cough up six in the first and make an early exit. The boys won that one, but I did lousy. Now this wasn’t helped by the fact that I was getting over a sinus infection. I didn’t think it was that bad. I thought I could pitch through it. The answer is, no, I could not. It was just enough of a distraction to throw me off. This is not an excuse, it’s a reason. There.s an important distinction here. I still take responsibility for every run that crossed the plate that inning but I understand why it happened and the likelihood of it happening again is reduced because of that.

We were in Toronto. And y’all know I’ve said great things about Dirtball in the past. Well, after that game he took me back to his place. In Montreal. On a jet. And he told me he knew what I needed. The first thing he did was drew me a bath. And while I was soaking, he made steaks and poutine. Now poutine is sorta the Montreal version of chili cheese fries, only instead of chili you have this gravy. And the cheese they use isn’t American cheese but these little cheese curd thingies. It was very good and we ate it on the roof so we had a wonderful view of Montreal. And I stayed over and we came back to Toronto for the next game, but Dirtball didn’t play.

We plan to watch the ASG together. Seeing as how neither of us will be there. Neal said it was too bad because we would’ve been on the same team this year. Well, this means I’m rooting for the team Neal is on. That’s new and different.

Annie said she told Ryan to move me down in the rotation. To change things up. We’ll see how that works. And the four-man rotation will start after the break as well. I think either of those would make a difference and both together should be a good combination. It’s easier to mix up the rotation at the break.

Halfway there. And I survived the first half. The second half will be better.

I don’t know what to say. When I’m losing, I can always find something to write about–something I’m doing wrong or that I could be doing better. But now it’s hard to write much of anything except “wheeeeeeee!” I love winning. And I love how it all seems to be going right for me right now.

One of the things that’s going right is a poll on NEBL.com. The question is: Who will win the AC CM? There are four choices–Alex Williams, me, Casey Lane and Sauli Vanhanen. And I voted for Alex Williams. Who wouldn’t?

A lot of people wouldn’t. Right now, I’m leading with 60% of the vote. Now, Williams has more Ks and a lower ERA–that’s why I voted for him. But I’m projected to win 9 more games than he is (actually, I’ve already won more games than he’s projected to win). I’m tied with him for shutouts. And I’ve got more innings and complete games. Also, I’m second everywhere else but K/9. And the ‘Hawks will win the conference. So a case could be made for me. I’m probably not going to win, but it’s great to know the fans support me. Even when I didn’t vote for myself.

And to all of y’all who haven’t voted–vote now! Click up there where I link to the poll. I’ve also got everyone’s name linked up there so you can look at our stats. The Adams Conference leaderboards can give you the rest of the story. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for.

There’s not much else to say, but wheeeeeeee! this is fun! I’ll do my best to keep doing my best. Skip always tells me I’m “awesome” and I want to be as good as he says I am. And I always tell him I’ll do my best. And right now, my best is pretty damned good.

There’s a saying, mostly among men, that bigger is better. Well, in some cases, that’s just not true.

The NEBL is expanding. At the end of the season, there will be two teams added, one in each conference. At this point, no team names or locations have been announced. They also don’t know who will skipper them, though it’s said that Michael LeClair, the league commissioner will take the helm of one of the new ballclubs. LeClair stepped down as manager of the Elmira Iroquois at the All-Star break last season.