Posted by Craig Brown on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 3:33 pm

I’m admittedly slow to adapt to some of this Web 2.0 stuff. Facebook? I entered my info reluctantly and soon found myself surrounded by “friends.” OK, that was kind of cool. But since this is the 21st century, web popularity has the shelf life of a loaf of bread. So long, Facebook. Nowdays I’m kinda, sorta addicted to Twitter.

The fun thing about Twitter is there are a few baseball players who have pages. Certainly, there’s a number of fake or imposter pages, but there are a handful of pages that are legit.

Here are a few of the more notable MLB players on Twitter:

David Ortiz is on Twitter. I clicked his link, thinking there would be some explanation for his .319 slugging percentage. Or maybe some deep thoughts on Manny. Nope. His last entry is from April 27:

big weekend for us. up next Cleveland

Cliches in 140 characters or less. Maybe he’ll get the hang of it considering that’s only his second update. At least the Sox took two of three in that big weekend and Ortiz was 4-13 with a double and two runs. Big weekend, indeed.

The White Sox Chris Getz has the same number of home runs as Ortiz (0) but has him beat in updates (8). His last one was May 3:

Wonder what the record is for rain delays in a game?

This question makes sense because the Sox game against the Rangers the night before was delayed for almost two and a half hours by rain. What would have been better about this Tweet was if Getz had posted it during the delay. If Charlie Villanueva can tweet during halftime of an NBA game, can’t a ballplayer at least tweet from the on deck circle? Or in the bullpen between warm-up pitches?

I would love for some ballplayers to Tweet during the game. How great would that be if they questioned strategy or a call. Or even better… pointed out a nice looking lady in the stands.

None of that is happening, but the Royals Coco Crisp has one of the more entertaining Twitter habits. He’s updated about rough plane flights (it was moving like a Wakefield knuckleball – excellent description), his new dog (a chihuahua – really?) and his haircut. Crisp last updated three days ago following a 1-4 evening at the plate:

OK i officially have a new (baseball) disease called PPA (Piss Poor Aim). Everytime i hit a ball hard PPA kicks in. There has to be a cure.

Piss Poor Aim… Since the Royals have dropped four in a row, that’s apparently more contagous than the Swine Flu. Here’s more from that rough flight into KC for the home opener:

Got n 2 KC last night. That plane ride was by far the worst i’ve ever been on. i thought fasho i was a goner.

I’m following Crisp. Fasho.

And since I’m a Royals fan, I also follow Joakim Soria. Soria (or the Mexicutioner as he’s known around these parts) is currently on the DL with shoulder stiffness. He’s keeping us updated on his condition in true Mexicutioner fashion:

i be back

Whew. I’m glad that’s settled.

Like myself, the Twins Joe Mauer expressed some trepidation about Twitter. His first post:

My buddies convinced me to use this. Not sure. I’m excited to see Twins fans at Twins Fest this weekend.

He’s still not hooked, updating just twice since the start of the season:

Opening Day! Go get ‘em boys!

And on the day of his return from the DL:

Back to Twitter, but more importantly back to baseball tonight. See you all at the dome!

There’s not much interesting here. He’s probably using Big Papi’s ghost Twitterer.

By far the most popular ballplayer on Twitter is the Yankees Nick Swisher with just under 100,000 followers. With good reason… He updates regularly and is pretty entertaining. Another plus is he’ll update from his phone, usually when he’s on his way to the park or when he just arrived in the clubhouse. He broke down Tuesday’s Yankee-Blue Jay tilt this way:

The teacher vs. The student. This is going to be fun!

I guess that’s a reference to the Roy Halladay/AJ Burnett match-up. The teacher won that battle with a five-hit complete game. Swisher was 0-2 with a pair of strikeouts.

Finally, of all the ballplayers who tweet, none can match Barry Zito. Zito updates constantly.

On Tuesday, the Giants came back from run down in the ninth on a three-run Pedro Sandoval home run. Zito’s reaction?

F@#K YEAH BABY!!!!

The funny thing was, Zito wasn’t even at the game. He was sitting at home watching it on TV. We know, because he tweeted about it:

Just got home from game, they let starters go home to rest up when starting day game. Watching the boys battle on tv…

When Zito isn’t tweeting baseball, he’s usually tweeting music or movies. He’s been on a huge Beatles kick lately and namechecks Radiohead and Stan Getz among others. If you dig pop culture, you’ll probably enjoy following Zito. Besides, when you follow someone as popular as Zito, you never know when a random celebrity will show up.

@Alyssa_Milano: Me vs Billingsley Friday. You going?

Alyssa, if you’re reading, you can find me at RoyalsAuthority.