Patriots Unlikely To Win Awards
by Mike Ashmore
September 21, 2006 - Hunterdon County Democrat

For the first time in four seasons, the Somerset Patriots trophy case won't need any new shelves.

Not since 2002 have the Patriots gone home empty-handed, as they won the championship in 2003 and 2005 and Victor Rodriguez was named Atlantic League MVP in 2004.

The playoffs long out of reach, Somerset does have an outside chance at bringing home MVP honors again, however. Larry Barnes has put up consistent offensive numbers all season, and Ryan Radmanovich leads the league in home runs despite missing nearly a month due to commitments with the Canadian National Team.

"It's not something you really set out to do," said Radmanovich of his MVP chances. "It would be a nice honor, just like anything else like that. But at the end of the day, you just want to put up good numbers and stay healthy."

The Most Valuable Player award is as wide open as its ever been in the Atlantic League, with each playoff team having at least one or two viable candidates. Ducks designated hitter Bucky Jacobsen would appear to have a slight edge on the competition, however.

Jacobsen leads the league in RBI and is 3rd in home runs, but that doesn't mean he's convinced the Patriots that he'll be taking home the honors.

"He's definitely a great hitter, but we haven't had as many problems with him as we have with the other guys," said Patriots pitching coach Brett Jodie.

"It's a tough question, because with the good teams, it's not just one or two players that are helping them win, it's the entire team. Maybe a guy like (Steve) Hine with Bridgeport, he's been scrappy and given his team big hits all year. Erick Almonte from Long Island's been good, maybe Reggie Taylor. I don't know man, that's tough"

While still a difficult decision, what doesn't seem to be as tough as the decision for Pitcher of the Year.

The Patriots are completely out of the running for this one, with starters Ben Crockett and Keith Ramsey suffering through losing seasons, despite solid ERA's.

The competition is between the Atlantic City Surf's Lincoln Mikkelsen and the Lancaster Barnstormers' Denny Harriger. With his next win, Harriger will set a league record with 17 victories. But Mikkelsen has a lot more strikeouts, has a no-hitter to his name, and has an ERA around 1.65

The smart money would seem to be on Mikkelsen to win the award, but Newark Bears manager Chris Jones took it one step further.

"I'd vote Mikkelsen for both awards," he said.

When told that the same player had never won both awards before, Jones changed his tune, albeit slightly.

"You could give Harriger the Pitcher of the Year based on wins, then maybe give Mikkelsen the Most Valuable Player. I don't know, it's tough this year," Jones said.

With only three games left in the Atlantic League season, the only certainty seems to be that the Somerset Patriots won't be figuring into the postseason awards.

SomerStuff: Former New Jersey Devils forward Rob Skrlac made an appearance in Somerset as a part of the Patriots' annual Youth Hockey Night. Skrlac, who appeared in eight games with the Devils in 2003-04 after a long career in the minors, spent his career as an enforcer.

"I'm six five, 250 pounds, if I try to get technical, I get punched," said Skrlac of his style, or perhaps lack thereof, as a fighter.

"Basically, it's try not to get hit, and throw as many punches as you can."

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