Patriots: Marsonek signs with Nationals

In one of the more surprising announcements I've ever come across, former Somerset Patriots right-handed pitcher Sam Marsonek has signed a contract with the Washington Nationals. It is unknown at this time which minor-league affiliate Marsonek will report to.
Marsonek accumulated a 6-8 record, a 5.03 ERA, and 59 strikeouts in 93 innings over 35 appearances for the 2007 Patriots. He made 14 starts.
Marsonek, who was coming off major shoulder surgery when the season began, was 3-1 with a 4.88 ERA in six games pitched in August and had a 0.93 ERA and ten strikeouts in five games pitched in September.
His struggles returned during the postseason, however, and his ineffectiveness out of the bullpen was a major reason why the Patriots lost Game 1 of the Atlantic League Championship Series.
But the key word with Marsonek last season was "potential." Pitching coach and director of player procurement Brett Jodie saw that potential in Marsonek, and it is the reason he never was released despite constant rumors that he might be sent home.
A former first-round draft choice of the Texas Rangers, Marsonek has three seasons of Triple-A experience with the New York Yankees and made one major-league appearance for the club.
Off-the-field, Marsonek is a quiet person who largely kept to himself and that was often taken for arrogance by members of the Patriots. I had little interaction with him, but found he never shied away from talking after a performance -- no matter how good or bad -- and that is rare in the Atlantic League.

Patriots: New Scoreboard at Commerce Bank Ballpark

Straight from the press release:

SOMERSET PATRIOTS TO INSTALL NEW STATE OF THE ART SCOREBOARD USED BY MAJORLEAGUE TEAMS Bridgewater, NJ-
In celebration of the Tenth Season Celebration of Commerce Bank Ballpark, the Somerset Patriots have announced that the team will install a brand new high-definition digital scoreboard designed and manufactured by Daktronics Inc. of Brookings, S.D for the 2008 season.
The high-definition technology of the new scoreboard model is currently being used by the Pittsburgh Steelers with installations this spring by the Kansas City Royals, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Indianapolis Colts.
The scoreboard model is also the same that will be used by the New York Mets and the New York Yankees when their new ballparks open in 2009.
“We felt that this was a great time to install the new state-of-the-art high definition scoreboard to add to our fans’ enjoyment of the Somerset Patriots experience. Entering our tenth season at Commerce Bank Ballpark, we wanted to upgrade certain aspects of the ballpark to keep the entertainment valueat its highest possible level. The scoreboard has always been a big part of the entertainment here and this new scoreboard is going to take us to a whole other level as it will be one of the best throughout all of sports,” said Patrick McVerry, President/ General Manager of the Somerset PatriotsBaseball Club.
The state-of-the-art system features the latest Daktronics video technology with the capabilities to present live and recorded video images, colorful animation and vivid graphics with incredible brightness and wide-angle visibility.
The video display is approximately 36 feet wide by 13 feet high. Daktronics HD-X technology offers a long lifetime with minimal maintenanceand low power consumption, providing value and excitement for years to come.
The Patriots are also adding a full color, digital LED lower board to the replace the current section of the scoreboard. The lower board display willmeasure approximately 36 feet wide and three feet high.
The display uses LED technology to present images and information with wide-angle visibility and incredible brightness for even greater flexibility of messages. The line score portion of the scoreboard will also be upgraded with LED technology to better display the balls, strikes, outs, runs, hits, errors,and the player at bat.
The installation will be about a two-week process beginning on April 1st to be ready for the middle of April. The 2008 Somerset Patriots schedule has been released and can be viewed at www.somersetpatriots.com. The Somerset Patriots have placed Season Tickets and Group Tickets on sale for the upcoming All-Star Season.

Math & Basketball

Is it possible to seed the Somerset County Tournament (and others like it) based on math?
At least one area coach thinks so.
I had an interesting conversation with that person Thursday night.

The basics:
Each team gets one point for a victory, plus additional points depending on the size of the school it beat. In other words, a victory over Ridge would be worth four points (one for the win, three because Ridge is a Group III school).
The same formula would be used for all winning teams with victories over non-public schools counting for points based on enrollment. If Pingry has a Group I enrollment, it would be a group one school, and beating the Big Blue would be a two-point win.
When it comes time to seed the tournament, the team with the most points is the top seed and the team with the least points is the 16th seed.
No challenging for seeds. No coaches wasting an off day at a 2-hour meeting.

The problem:
Why would a Group IV school ever want to play any Group I team? If the Group IV school wins, there is little to gain -- even if the Group I is a powerhouse such as University. If the Group IV school loses, there is plenty to lose.

Of course, I became a writer because I'm bad at math (not realizing at the time how many box scores I would have to handle) so someone else would have to tell me if this is a valid idea. If it is not, how can it be tweaked to become valid?

Updated SCT seeds

As promised, here is my updated ballot for the Somerset County Tournament field. An original ballot through last Thursday's game ran in this past Saturday's paper, and below you fill find the link to the podcast featuring boys basketball writer Jerry Carino and I analyzing our ballots. Keep in mind, however, that what you hear on the podcast was taped prior to knowing any of Tuesday night's results. If you want the most recent ballot, read here. If you want some a good laugh or two, listen to the podcast.

http://www.c-n.com/specialsections/podcasts/frezza/frezza0122.htm

1. Rutgers Prep 14-1
Locked up the No. 1 seed with Watchung Hills' lost Tuesday night
2. Watchung Hills 10-3
Tuesday night's loss to Franklin hurts, but enough to drop past this spot
3. Montgomery 10-4
Another team that didn't help itself Tuesday by losing to Immaculata. Still, this position should remain theirs.
4. Franklin 8-6
No doubt the Warriors get a double bye after beating Watchung Hills
5. Bridgewater-Raritan 5-9
By virtue of not getting the Panthers' result against Hillsborough on Tuesday night, they stay where I had them all week.
6. Gill St. Bernard's 8-3
Would be fifth if it beat Bridgewater-Raritan. Would likely have beat Bridgewater-Raritan if leading rebounder Niiya Ruth had played.
7. North Plainfield 7-3
My pick as a "team to watch" before the season is finally clicking. Erase an early season loss to Somerville and who knows how much better this seed becomes.
8. Immaculata 3-10
Yes, Immaculata is 3-10. And, yes, I still put them eighth. The Spartans' schedule is one of the area's most challenging and wins against Somerville and Montgomery in the past four days greatly improved this stock.
9. Hillsborough 2-10
No latest result (See: 5. Bridgewater-Raritan). Tough schedule (See: 8. Immaculata).
10. Mount St. Mary 8-3
Eight straight wins -- including five in the county -- made the Mount Lions a great story. Three straight losses, including one to North Plainfield on Tuesday, has cost them lots of ground at the seeding table.
11. Somerville 9-4
That loss Saturday to Immaculata doesn't look so bad anymore thanks to Montgomery's duplicating the feat.
12. Pingry 9-4
One county game, one county win (against Ridge), and one Katie Occhipinti. She's good. Go see her.
13. Ridge 3-10
Lost to Somerville and Pingry head-to-head. Could get a rematch with one in the 12-13 game.
14. Bound Brook 3-8
Moved up from 15 by beating Bernards last Friday. Could win a first-round SCT game, too.
15. Bernards 5-9
It used to be this team was thought of as a sleeper in the SCT. No more. Graduating a 2,000-point scorer can do that, you know?
16. Manville 1-12
Anyone know the last time the Mustangs won an SCT game? If so, post it in the comments section. Thanks.

Surprise Weekend

What a busy two days.
My notebook on the Somerset County Tournament seedings and Top 10 rankings -- both of which are due to my editors at the end of Thursday night -- seem to have been virtually rendered insignificant by what I've tabbed as "Surprise Weekend."
I'm not ready to call it "Upset Weekend" because with all these the teams around the area looking more and more evenly matched, I'm not sure what's an upset and what's not anymore. But I still was surprised to see in the past two days that:


1) North Hunterdon beat Hunterdon Central

2) Hun routed Hunterdon Central

3) Watchung Hills barely slipped past Bridgewater-Raritan

4) Westfield beat Scotch Plains-Fanwood (mild surprise)

5) Pingry beat Ridge

6) Immaculata beat Somerville



I will have an updated version of my Somerset County seeds on my blog by Wednesday afternoon in time for the coaches meeting later that night. Until then, here are the links to what ran in Saturday's paper and my new Top 10 as of all games completed Saturday night.



http://c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080119/SPORTS03/801190313/1013

http://c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080119/SPORTS03/801190314/1013



1. Rutgers Prep 13-1

2. Piscataway 10-3

3. Voorhees 9-4

4. North Hunterdon 10-2

5. Hunterdon Central 11-4

6. Watchung Hills 10-2

7. Montgomery 10-3

8. Westfield 8-3

9. Franklin 7-6

10. Scotch Plains-Fanwood 7-5

Reasons for some of the changes:

-- I'm ready to say Rutgers Prep is the best team in the area, and I know at least one opposing coach who agrees with me. RP beat Hun, which beat Hunterdon Central by 29 on Saturday.

-- Voorhees gets the edge among the three Hunterdon County schools, all of whom are 1-1 against each other. This is mere opinion because you could argue these teams in any order.

-- Watchung Hills and Montgomery are both playing great right now, but they fall a few spots for no other reason than because someone has to when Voorhees and North Hunterdon are moving up.

Remember, by the time the next Top 10 runs in next Saturday's paper, this Top 10 could be very different. All rankings subject to change. But enjoy for this now.

PATRIOTS: Lockwood going Crabbing?

The Atlantic League's Southern Maryland Blue Crabs selected Somerset Patriots center fielder Mike Lockwood in Tuesday's expansion draft.
Lockwood, 31, hit .278 with 23 home runs, 92 RBIs and 90 runs scored in 2007, the best season of his nine-year professional career.
But don't expect to see Lockwood playing in Waldorf, Md. anytime soon.
"I probably would not come back to the Atlantic League, even though I enjoyed it," Lockwood said. "If I can't get a look (from a major-league organization) with the year I had last year - not that it was a great year, but it was a good year - nothing is ever going happen with my age."
The Patriots expressed interest in retaining Lockwood, but he made it clear that he would prefer to play in either Mexico or Italy, if at all.
In my opinion, it seems as if Southern Maryland got the short end here.
Neither Lockwood nor the Patriots were contacted by the Blue Crabs to inquire about the former Athletics and Red Sox prospect's future plans, which do not include the Atlantic League.
With strict guidelines mandating that only player from each of the other seven teams can be drafted, it seems as if this was a wasted pick. The Patriots had plenty of talent this season, and there must have been an unprotected player with a better chance of returning to the league next season.
The Patriots lost right-handed pitcher Mike Johnson to the York Revolution in the 2006 expansion draft, but he never signed. Lockwood is the biggest name drafted off the roster since Lipso Nava was taken by the Camden Riversharks in 2000.

Changing my point on 1,000 points

During the past two years, I have questioned the meaning of 1,000 career points, saying that the milestone has lost some of the significance as more and more players see four years of varsity action. For a while, it seemed as if some local hoopster was scoring their 1,000th career point in girls or boys basketball every other day.
A little less than halfway into this season, I've come to reconsider my stance on this argument.
Perhaps the frequency of 1,000 points over the past two seasons had more to do with the number of outstanding players in the area, and not with the number itself.
The past two seasons were a golden age of talent not expected again for a long time. With less players reaching 1,000, the number again seems high enough to warrant attention.
Pingry's Katie Occhipinti and Governor Livingston's Lauren Munick are the only two local girls to reach 1,000 this season and both were three-year stars for their team expected to hit 1,000.
I know this is a debate we had on this blog last season and we don't need to rehash old material, but since I am changing my mind, I'm wondering if the decrease in 1,000 point scores has made any of you reconsider your opinion on its meaning.

Most Improved Teams

Here is a list of the teams I think have improved the most since last season.
Did I forget anyone? Tell me.
But remember, a good team, such as Hunterdon Central, is not ranked because the Red Devils also were very good last season.
This top 10 is strictly based on one team's improvement during the past 12 months and has nothing to do with how I think they would fare in a match-up with another team on the list:


1. Mount St. Mary
2. Bridgewater-Raritan
3. South Hunterdon
4. North Hunterdon
5. Rutgers Prep
6. Plainfield
7. Ridge
8. Delaware Valley
9. Gill St. Bernard's
10. Middlesex

FOR MORE GIRLS BASKETBALL: Check out Saturday's notebook. It contains a feature on an assistant coach with a familiar name to women's basketball loyalists, an item on a team that has been decimated by injuries like no other in the area, a bunch of quick hits that you might not know and the real Top 10 rankings.

Two results in case you missed them

From Saturday:

1) Voorhees 35, Watchung Hills 32
Voorhees: Shawnee Bernstein (five steals), Noelle Polhemus (12 points and seven rebounds), Melanie Ferdinand (eight points and six steals)
Watchung Hills: Stephanie Lupo 11 points, Michelle Peterpaul 10 points

2) Warren Hills 42, Delaware Valley 38

3) Hunterdon Central 45, Morristown 30

The first result is interesting if for no other reason than it perplexes me.
Hunterdon Central, Watchung Hills, Montgomery and Voorhees should have a four-team tournament in the middle of January just so that I can make sense of their comparative scores. We can call it the Dunleavy Needs Help Tournament.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, here is why I find my rankings difficult to make:

-- Voorhees beat Watchung Hills but lost to Montgomery
-- Montgomery beat Voorhees but lost to Watchung Hills
-- Hunterdon Central lost to Watchung Hills
-- Watchung Hills beat Montgomery but lost to Voorhees
** Voorhees plays host to Central tonight and I will be in attendance. If you think I'm going to make a predicition, guess again.

Girls basketball: Small Schools Top 5

I got this idea from a coach who told me the Easton Express, which covers some of the same West Jersey schools as the Courier News, does it. It's basically a chance for smaller schools (Groups I and II and Non-Public B) to see their names in a ranking system since the Top 10 is often dominated by the bigger schools. Here is my Small Schools Top 5 as of Friday afternoon:

1) Rutgers Prep
2) Gill St. Bernards
3) Somerville
4) Delaware Valley
5) Mount St. Mary

To go further, here is my Small Schools Top 5 with only public schools:

1) Somerville
2) Delaware Valley
3) Governor Livingston
4) Middlesex
5) New Providence


DISAGREE? TELL MY WHY BY POSTING A COMMENT...

Atlantic League: Realignment and other changes

(We interrupt from high school girls basketball coverage to bring you the following announcement:)

The Atlantic League announced Thursday that it has realigned its two divisions for the 2008 season, a change brought on by the addition of the expansion Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. In another change, the divisions, previously known by North and South, have been renamed the Freedom and Liberty divisions.
The new make-up:

Liberty:
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
Bridgeport Bluefish
Long Island Ducks
Camden Riversharks

Freedom:
Lancaster Barnstormers
York Revolution
Somerset Patriots
Newark Bears

Here are the quotes from the press release:


“I am excited as we move into our second decade that we are able to keep our traditional rivalries intact in this new divisional setup,” AL founder & CEO Frank Boulton said. “It is with the addition of SouthernMaryland and in the best interest of the league to create these two new divisions and move away from our North/South setup.”

“The key is keeping the rivalries intact,” AL Executive Director Joe Klein said. “And we have done that.”

Here are my thoughts on what it all means:

1) Forget about a rematch of the 2007 Atlantic League Championship Series. Newark and Somerset are in the same division now.

2) I like that the league is concerned about keeping its few rivalries in tact. Somerset-Newark isn't much of a rivalry but it once was. Long Island-Bridgeport and York-Lancaster actually do have rather intense rivalries, if you believe that.

3) I like that the league made a concerted effort to break up the four teams owned by the Opening Day Partners group. There was a lot of fear -- led by Patriots manager Sparky Lyle -- that those four teams (Southern Maryland, York, Lancaster and Camden) would end up in the same division and then work together loading up certain rosters while depleting others to finagle playoff spots. The best way to put an end to controversy is to head it off at the start, and the league seems to have done that here.

4) Mike Ashmore of www.atlanticleaguebaseball.com says that the league's setup (140 game-season where each team plays the other seven 20 times regardless of division) renders even having divisions pointless, especially if the divisions are no longer based on geography.
I understand the point, but respectfully disagree. I like divisions because I think they promote rivalries and I also think that, for example, being six games out of first place in a four-team division is an easier deficit to overcome than being six games out of first place in an eight-team league-wide field. A balanced schedule is one thing, but at the end of each half, you are still chasing only the teams in your division and that makes those games matter more than intra-divisional games.

5) Freedom and Liberty are not very good names for divisions. When did the AL become the symbol of athletic patriotism? As if having a team named the "Patriots" was not enough.
North and South, A and B, Boulton and Klein, Apples and Oranges, Balls and Bats, etc. would all been more suitable names. I understand they wanted neutrality in the names, but this is silly.