Giants series at SF: May 31-June 2

…. the series is at AT&T Park

Potato/Potatoe

Every article in the front page has a comment section in it. At the bottom of the articles, you’ll see ’Continue Reading this post" and “[number] Comments” – if you click the comments link, you can see what our other readers are saying about the topics. If you click the “reply” link underneath a specific post, you can reply to that individual poster.

As a rule, that’s where the majority of discussion takes place, and we’d love to have you join in as a regular commenter.

Hold off on writing new fanposts for a bit…not meant as an angry chastising, but this way when you’re ready for a new one, you’ll know if it’s something we’ve discussed a lot already, and that way it’ll have a better chance of generating a lot of good discussion. We’re very welcoming to new commenters and insight we might have missed. We typically use the Fanposts for more in-depth articles.

Just as a bit of a primer, this is how the articles work.

Every morning, there’s a new Rockpile which covers the news from the previous day/that morning. That’s where a lot of our discussion takes place. In addition to the Rockpile, we also post a Pebble Report, which covers the minor league affiliates and the results from their games yesterday.

Every game day, we have a Game Thread. The articles typically aren’t too content filled, their purpose is to discuss the game as it’s happening. After every game, we have a Game Wrap, which will break down what just happened for those who missed the game or missed the Game Thread.

We also have regular columns. NL West Report is written by Andrew Fisher, and he’ll bring you the highlights from the Dodgers, Dbacks, Giants, and Padres from the past week, give you an idea of who’s hurt, what recent transactions have taken place, etc.

Before every series, Russ writes the Know Your Foe column, which is similar in content to the NL West Report, but it only focuses on the team that we’re about to face.

Counting Rocks is my “weekly” column (It’s become a bit less than weekly so I’m just just dumping a fangraphs page on the readers, and hopefully being able to bring more insightful writing), and I focus on the statistical side of things, the advanced metrics, etc. I write primers on stats that people might not be familiar with, and then use them in my evaluation/analysis of the players I’m covering.

We also will have sporadic Transactions/Rumors articles that only really get posted if a big trade is made or if a more marquee player is demoted/promoted.

There’s also Silverblood’s weekly Rockies Review which is on hiatus right now as she figures out her living situation in Asheville.

It’s a lot of content, but we want to make sure that the readership is as educated as possible on the Rockies and what’s going on with the team.

You can see all of these columns and articles front and center on the page when it loads, in the bold font. There is a lot, sure, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll know what to look for on a regular basis.

The reason I’m bringing this up is that your fanposts about the Dodgers and Giants series are basically redundant to what our site writers are taking the time to write and publish weekly and in the case of Know Your Foe, multiple times weekly. I wouldn’t want you to think that nobody’s interested in the upcoming series based on a short number of comments in one of your fanposts, because we are, but most of the users on the website will look at the articles that the staff is writing.

So hang out for a bit, maybe lurk some, and get the feel for how the site runs, the tone, etc. Then when you feel the writing itch, put together a feature-length article on something we’re not talking about and make that your next fanpost. You know, after a little while.

Here are some topics we’ve covered pretty exhaustively:
1. Clint Barmes is really struggling with the bat. The general consensus is that we don’t really have a better batting option right now, so we’ll just have to grin and bear it and hope that his glove continues to be stellar.

2. Chris Iannetta is continually having a lot of trouble producing at the major league level. He has excellent on-base skills and when he hits it, it’s typically for a lot of power, but the problem is actually hitting the ball. The site is divided nearly in two over whether this means that he clearly and obviously sucks, and it’s brought forth many a bitter argument.

3. Dexter Fowler sucks from the left side. There isn’t a consensus on this yet, but more and more people are starting to think that he needs to scrap the switch. Some have been saying it for a long time, some have just recently gotten on board this.

4. Todd Helton’s massively reduced slugging has created somewhat of a problem. He still sports an excellent OBP, however, and we’re thinking he will turn it around. Again, no consensus, but it seems that the 3 hole may not be the best batting slot for him.

So again, read around, comment on the articles, get the feel of the place. You’ll enjoy it more that way, I’d wager.