Posted By Jeff Fletcher on August 17, 2009 11:05 am

Hey folks, just wanted to say I’m back from my hot-air balloon trip around the world. Obviously, I didn’t have Internet access while in the balloon, so…

Just kidding.

I know it’s been a while. A lot of days I would think about my blog, but never got around to posting anything. Then yesterday I got this comment from Les From Santa Rosa.

DId Jeff abandon this blog? It used to be required reading for bay area BB fans. Seems strange to me, with the Giants right in the thick of it. I guess he has become enamoured with twitter and blogging is so first half of 2009. Maybe this is Jeff’s way of avoiding a crow dinner on the subject of Pablo Sandoval, whom he dissed on this very blog way back in the Spring. Way to duck responsibility for your words, Jeff! Just abandon the blog altogether.

First of all, I don’t believe I ever said that Pablo Sandoval was no good. I believe I said that I wasn’t ready, after watching him swing at everything for six weeks at the end of last season, to be sure that he was for real. (Also, I wrote here what a scout said about Sandoval.) A player who can be undisciplined and successful is quite the exception. Obviously, Sandoval is the exception th0ugh.

Anyway, as for my lack of posts to this blog, what’s happened is exactly what I suspected might happen way back in March when I announced that I had been hired as a national baseball for AOL FanHouse. It was easy to find the time and inspiration to blog about something all the time when I didn’t have anything else (professionally) to do, but that’s not the case anymore. Frankly, I am getting paid by FanHouse and making just pennies for advertising on this blog. Do the math.

Now that I’m responsible for writing about all the teams, sometimes I don’t even watch the Giants or A’s. I was never a fan of either team. It was my job. Now it’s not.

I’m not going to shut down this blog (since it doesn’t cost me anything). I may still throw some stuff on here once in a while. I still go to a lot of Giants and A’s games, although I tend to spend more time in the visitor’s clubhouse. However, the posts here are going to be infrequent enough that you shouldn’t waste your time checking back very frequently. Instead, you should subscribe with the RSS feed and you’ll get an email whenever I post something. You should also be following me on Twitter. I still Tweet several times a day, often on the Giants and A’s, since I’m at games in SF and Oakland.

Of course, you should also be reading me at FanHouse. Here is the link to my feed there. I’m writing some pretty interesting stuff, including this story about a very sensitive issue in MLB and this one about baseball fans in Antarctica.

Finally, thanks to everyone who helped me get this blog going. I’m sorry that it’s not going too much anymore, but that’s life. Gotta pay the bills.