Skip called me into his office yesterday and told me due to a make-up from earlier, I’m starting in a week.

While it’s exciting, it’s not like I get to go into ‘starter mode’. I’m still going to be needed in the pen until a couple of days out.

Then they’ll sit me down.

It’s a bubble of nervousness that won’t pop until I take the field and throw my first pitch.

I’m not nervous about how I’ll do or the outcome. If I didn’t have complete confidence in my stuff, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

But I can still be nervous about it. And I think that’s healthy, or at least that’s the excuse I’m going with today.

Try me in 24 hours and I might be defiant about my chances, the nervousness pushed into the corner and covered so the reporters don’t see it.

See that while I pitch every day, this is different. This is a start, so it’s handled differently; which is obvious until you think about the second time around the order.

There’s a reason we long men ended up in the pen instead of starting somewhere and this is usually it.

What do you do when someone has already seen your best stuff? Do you hold back some pitches for upcoming at bats or go all out each time?

We’ll develop a game plan and I’ll be prepared. But what if I’m just not good enough on that particular day? What if my change isn’t dropping off or my slider doesn’t dive?

It’s only when I’m alone in the dark when I think about all the successful outcomes.