Friday, August 27, 2010

Twittered Baseball Roadtrip #6: Independent Leagues of New Jersey 2010 Opening Days-Atlantic League and CanAm League

Dates: April 22, 2010, April 30, 2010, May 27, 2010, and June 3, 2010

Primary Destinations: Day trips to Newark, NJ, Bridgewater, NJ, Augusta, NJ, and Montclair, NJ


Twitter Address: http://twitter.com/Wtriebel


Atlantic League


Game 1: Camden Riversharks vs. Newark Bears, April 22nd, 6:35PM, Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, Newark, NJ

Game 2: Bridgeport Bluefish vs. Somerset Patriots, April. 30th, 7:05PM, TD Bank Ballpark, Bridgewater, NJ


CanAm League


Game 1: New Jersey Jackals vs. Sussex Skyhawks, May 27th, 7:05PM, Skylands Park, Augusta, NJ

Game 2: Brockton Rox vs. New Jersey Jackals, June 3rd, 7:05PM, Yogi Berra Stadium, Montclair, NJ


Summary:


The purpose of this baseball roadtrip was to see the opening day game of as many of the independent league baseball teams located in New Jersey as possible. Two independent leagues have teams that reside in NJ: the Atlantic League and the CanAm League.


The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was established in 1998, is comprised of eight baseball teams that are located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States. The focus of its teams is to form their roster with former major and minor league baseball players that are not currently under contract with a MLB team. A few notable former major league or minor league players on the roster of the teams seen on this roadtrip include: Jeff Nettles and Tim Raines, Jr., Somerset Patriots, Jorge Julio and Antonio Alfonseca, Bridgeport Bluefish, and Armando Benitez, Scott Spezio, and Daryle Ward, Newark Bears.


The 2010 baseball season of the Atlantic League opened on April 22, 2010 and all eight teams were in action on the first night. Three of the Atlantic League teams, the Newark Bears, Somerset Patriots, and Camden Riversharks reside in New Jersey. However, the only NJ-based team that played at home that evening was the Newark Bears. Both the Patriots and Riversharks opened the season on the road. In fact, on opening night the Newark Bears played the Camden Riversharks at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, Newark, NJ. This was the first 2010 season “NJ Independent League Opening Night Game” that I attended.


The Patriots and Riversharks both returned from the road to have their opening night game on Friday, April 30, 2010. Since both team’s home opener was the same day and at the same time, I chose to attend Somerset’s opening night game. The Patriots played the Bridgeport Bluefish at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, NJ. The Camden Riversharks played the Newark Bears in their home opener at Campbell’s Field in Camden, NJ.


Each year the contract of many Atlantic League players are purchased by MLB teams to fill open positions on their major league or minor league rosters. For example, this July the contracts of pitcher Derrick Loop of the Camden Riversharks and Long Island Ducks pitcher Joe Esposito were purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies.


Summary of Atlantic League New Jersey Opening Day Games: Games attended marked with an *


Game 1:* 4/22/2010


Camden 9 R 12 H 3 E

LP: Jon Ellis

HR: Val Pascucci, Mike Costanzo, Jason Botts


Newark 10 R 12 H 1 E

WP: Michael Nix

SV: none

HR: Fernando Seguignol, Paddy Matera


Game 2:* 4/30/2010


Bridgeport 1 R 7 H 1 E

LP: Paul Oseguera

HR: None


Somerset 3 R 6 H 0 E

WP: Mike Thompson,

SV: Ryan Houston

HR: Jason Belcher


Game 3: 4/30/2010


Newark 4 R 6 H 3 E

LP:: Mike Loree

HR: None


Camden 11 R 15 H 2 E

WP: Steve Hammond

SV: None

HR::Rene Rivera


The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball (CanAm League) was founded in 2004 and its inaugural season took place in 2005. Today the league has six teams that are located in New Jersey, Massachusetts, or Quebec, CA. Teams are organized as a single division, but the games of the season are split equally to form a first half season and second half season. The winners and the runners up in each half season face off during the post season to determine the overall CanAm League Champion.


Similar to the Atlantic League, the rosters of the teams in the CanAm league are primarily built around former major league and minor league baseball players, but with more focus on minor leagueers. For example, the closer that received the save for Sussex in their opening night win was Duaner Sanchez, who was a relief pitcher for the Mets and the Dodgers. Also, CanAm League teams often include some non-drafted college players.


Just like the Atlantic League, a number of the players under contract with CanAm league teams have their contracts purchased by MLB teams. Recently, the contract of Sussex Skyhawks pitcher Mike McGuire was sold to the Philadelphia Phillies and New Jersey Jackals second baseman Argenis Reyes, who played for the New York Mets in 2008, was acquired by the Boston Red Sox.

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The CanAm League plays a short season that starts the last week of May and ends in early September. Opening day 2010 for the CanAm League was Thursday, May 27th and only two games took place that evening. Both New Jersey-based teams where in action, but they played each other in the Sussex Skyhawks home opener. This game was the first of two CanAm League Home Openers I attended during this roadtrip. The game took place at Skylands Park, Augusta, NJ.


The New Jersey Jackals returned from a 7 game season opening roadtrip to have their home opening day game on June 3rd. Their opponent for this game was the Brockton Rox from Brockton, MA. With my attendance of this game, the “Independent Leagues of New Jersey Opening Days Baseball Roadtrip” came to an end.


Summary of CanAm League New Jersey Opening Day Games:


Game 1:* 5/27/2010


New Jersey 3 R 5 H 2 E

LP: Jeff Icenogle

HR: None


Sussex 4 R 8 H 0 E

WP: A. J.Wideman

SV: Duaner Sanchez

HR: None


Game 2:* 6/3/2010


Brockton 0 R 5 H 0 E

LP: Mike Smith

HR: None


New Jersey 1 R 9 H 0 E

WP: Nick Asselin,

SV: Romas Hicks

HR: None


Twitter Roadtrip Information:


The twitter for each of the games attended includes pre-game tweets with information about the league, each team, and the probable starting pitchers. During the game, tweets announced the inning by inning score and gave highlights as runs were scored. At the end of the game, post-game tweets summarized the result: winning team, final score and team stats, and additional information, such as the winning and losing pitchers.


Total number of Tweets: 164


Atlantic League Opening Days:


Newark Bears home opener:


Number of tweets: 53

Time/Date of 1st Tweet: April 21, 2010 4:52 PM

Time/Date of Last Tweet: April 23, 2010 11:17 AM


Somerset Patriots home opener:


Number of tweets: 31

Time/Date of 1st Tweet: April 30, 2010 10:11 AM

Time/Date of Last Tweet: May 01, 2010 12:15 AM


CanAm League Opening Days:


Sussex Skyhawks home opener:


Number of tweets: 48

Time/Date of 1st Tweet: May 25, 2010 5:54 PM

Time/Date of Last Tweet: May 27, 2010 11:11 PM


New Jersey Jackals home opener:


Number of tweets: 32

Time/Date of 1st Tweet: June 02, 2010 10:15 PM

Time/Date of Last Tweet: June 03, 2010 9:59 PM


Roadtrip Planning Resources:


The following are the web resources used for planning the "Atlantic League" segment of this baseball roadtrip.


Official Website of the Atlantic Baseball League: http://www.atlanticleague.com


Official Websites of the Atlantic League Teams:


And the web resources used for planning the "CanAm League" part of the roadtrip:


Official Website of the CanAm Baseball League: http://www.canamleague.com


Official Websites of the CanAm League Teams:

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