cannon's giant posterous

I have never met Andrew Baggarly. I don't know much about him. However, it is very obvious that his coverage of the Giants - specifically his blog - is the best out there. I would go as far as to argue that his work as a beat writer could be put up against anyone involved with a Major League club and come out ahead. He is one of the best, if not the best. 

Each season he adds a new wrinkle to his coverage that adds further depth to his coverage. This year its an embedded YouTube clip he calls "The Rundown." This offseason he wrote a book about last season's World Series champions. All that is to say that he doesn't rest on his success but continues to improve his overall presentation. 

Not to be lost in all that is the fact that Baggarly provides the best Giants writing and anecdotes found anywhere. His intelligence and wit are evident in his writing. Readers should also be able to pick up on the fact that he has cultivated good relationships with those inside the clubhouse. The players talk to him as evidenced by Aubrey Huff sticking around after a playoff game last season, and Buster Posey's teasing this week. A lot of writers are not able to "get in good" with the players because they are either too old and devoid of pop culture knowledge or they are out to stir it up.

Nobody enjoys reading his blog more than I do. I don't really check out the webcast thing too much but the time or two in which I saw it I thought it was solid. 

Having said all that, I can firmly say that I no longer include reading the comments section as part of reading the Extra Baggs blog. For awhile there were some readers that had some interesting takes along with some really funny posters whose dry humor was great. These days it's a bunch of hacks. I know that one price of winning is bandwagon fans, but some folks have taken it to a new level.

It's a bunch of people who think Posey is cute and don't know he was paid six million to sign and who care more about Brian Wilson's appearances on TV than his performance on the mound.

The other day someone asked in the comments section of Extra Baggs about the specifics of a four strikeout inning, and then proceeded to announce they had already blogged about it. Let this be a pair of lessons: don't read blogs by fans and it's these folks that allow Larry Baer to charge $31.25 for a bleacher seat (rows 1-25) for a Wednesday night game against the Dodgers. 

I am all for people talking about the Giants. Hey I'm wasting time on this blog right now. But at some point the ridiculousness is too much. 

One of the best things about following the Giants is reading the work of Baggarly. One of the worst is reading the "hot sports opinions" that follow it.