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SF Giants Twitter Guide

When Mike Fontenot was released, I got five tweets from five people about it saying relatively the same thing: Mike Fontenot released from Giants.

When the Giants roster was announced on Wednesday, the stream of tweets was endless – again, media folks saying the same thing about each player. Between five media people that cover the Giants, I stopped counting at 115 tweets saying relatively the same thing about the 25-man roster. 115 tweets, in a matter of a couple hours.

Now it could be tempting to just chalk this up to excitement about the upcoming season, Opening Day, spring, and a younger team. But then I recall many game nights last season, scrolling through Twitter and having to deal with the same problem: there are way too many people out there providing the same updates on the Giants as the game progresses.

Look, I want to support all the Giants voices. John Shea, Hank Schulman, Andrew Baggarly, Alex Pavlovic, Jaymee Sire, Amy G. But when I get six tweets about how Buster Posey did a great job going inside out on a breaking ball and slapping it to right field for a long single in the bottom of the 4th, I go absolutely nuts. I don’t need to know that six different ways, I really don’t. And with a complaint, these guys will just tell you to “unfollow”. Okay, well I can. But, really…? That’s the solution? Can’t we figure this out? I mean, they all watch from the same press box – can’t Schulman and Pavlovic take the odd innings and Baggs and Shea take the even innings? Or have one guy do all the tweets for every in-game summary?

Because that’s not going to happen despite the saturated market that is the Giants Press Box, I thought I might help the Fan. Here is your guide to Giants beat writers and sideline reporters that can’t help but Tweet the same thing all their friends are tweeting. Because God forbid they miss giving you an update on Affeldt getting loose in the bullpen.

Hank Schulman, @hankschulman – Giants beat writer for the SF Chronicle. Hank knows his stuff (they all do), and without sitting in the press box or club house, I don’t know who gets the best scoops. But I know within thirteen seconds they usually all have it. Hank is at the front end of this microsecond race for information and can add some good humor to his tweets. He talks to fans a lot through Twitter and has a good ability to read between the lines.

John Shea, @JohnSheaHey – National baseball writer for the SF Chronicle. He follows the Giants pretty closely and does a good job with the national perspective. Is less likely to give you the in-game updates that clog your feed like a Coachella outhouse. Not particularly entertaining, but informative.

Alex Pavlovic, @AlexPavlovic – Covers Giants for SJ Mercury News and Bay Area News Group. The new kid on the block, Alex has the job most of us wanted. Probably taking some shit from the older coffee-drinking guys who have been at it longer, so may be good to show some support to the guy who will probably have to fight for an interview a little harder than a guy like the guy he replaced at the Merc…

Andrew Baggarly, @CSNBaggs – SF Giants beat writer for CSN Bay Area. You probably know this guy from his ever-lasting Twitter photo of his book, Band of Misfits. Baggs is among the best and funniest, interacting with his fans well and gaining more exposure on Comcast. Good for him, but this dude is all Giants all the time, so if you’re a casual fan, stick to someone else. No idea how he took the day off the day the 25-man roster was announced before a day game against the A’s. Casual fan? Kidding Baggs, and all your 26,000 followers.

Jaymee Sire, @JaymeeSireCSN – Reporter and anchorwoman for CSN Bay Area. Sort of seems to fade in and out of the Giants, but is definitely there when news breaks. Liable to get heavy on the in-game tweets. Has an (annoying?) food blog she plugs all the time which almost earner her an Unfollow if it weren’t for her hotness. Yep.

Amy Gutierrez, @AmyGGiants – Giants in-game reporter for CSN. I guess her title gives it away, but she may be most guilty of the in-game tweets. If you can stomach them all and want to know what is happening in real time because you are not near a TV or radio and care that much what is happening every minute, Amy is your girl. She talks to her fans like it’s G-Chat, so that can get a little fun if you’re into that sort of thing. Or abnoxious if you’re not – mainly because it is limited to 140 characters and with all the hashtags and symbols it gets to be a discombobulated headache.

It might be worth noting that if you want to follow someone while you’re watching the game, and don’t need all the in-game tweets because you’re watching it, good guys to follow are @DamonBruce, @RattoCSN, @Finnertys and@knbrmurph. It’s like you’re on your couch with a beer watching the ballgame with guys providing good social commentary and deeper talk. And of course, @thebayareabias. We keep it real too, trying to be more funny than accurate.

One final note, by following all these folks, there is no reason in hell to follow CSN Bay Area, KNBR, or 95.7 The Game’s Twitter feeds. It’s usually all programming info that is tweeted by their on-air personalities anyways.

Enjoy the season on the couch with these guys. Be sure to watch the game more than your Twitter feed though. This may seem obvious, but it seems where our society is headed, so worth a friendly reminder.

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