So after spending about an hour (yes, an hour; these things can be kind of tedious) customizing this new blog, I sat back in my chair, looked at the screen and thought to myself, "Man. This is like watching a prospect make his debut against Albert Pujols."

The casual baseball fan will know the point was this: It wasn't easy.

I've never been a person with an eye for design or the patience to sit down and try and figure out what looks best, so the highlight of that last hour was finding the preset template of the guy at the baseball game. Throw a little red in there and we're in business!

In all seriousness, creating a blog was something that I have been meaning to do for a while now, and finally, here it is. As a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, I spend a lot of time writing about the Philadelphia Phillies. I've worked on assignments ranging from the greatest players in the team's history to the best reasons to raise your kids a Phillies' fan.

As much as I love writing about the Phillies, I have been looking for a place to make more concise thoughts and statements for quite a while now, and while the idea of a blog was always in the back of my mind, it never really clicked until recently, when it was suggested to me by a friend that starting a blog would be perfect.

So here I am.

As I've continued to write about the Phillies and my knowledge on the subject has grown, I've been looking for a place to expand my avenues. That's why, on this blog, you will be able to find a number of things that cross my mind during the day: Trade and free agent rumors from various sources, not only about the Phillies, but about baseball in general; tons of analysis, from reactionary pieces to those transactions, possible fits on a roster, questionable decision making, etc.; and of course, recaps of what happened during each and every Phillies' game.

So that's about all I have for a first post. Thanks for checking out The Phillies Phactor and make sure to stay tuned for everything Phillies (and baseball) related!

-Greg Pinto
Follow @Greg_Pinto