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Photo by Associated Press
The Keys pile on one another after beating the Salem Avalanche to win the Mills Cup Championship on Tuesday in Virginia. |
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WHEN THE Frederick Keys beat Salem 5-1 on Tuesday to win the Carolina League championship, a man who had a great deal to do with the team's success was more than 200 miles away at his home in Frederick .Manager Tommy Thompson was too ill to make the trip. On Saturday, the day the Mills Cup Championship Series began, he went in the hospital with severe stomach pains and was later diagnosed with diverticulitis, a digestive disorder. He was put on antibiotics and told he would not be able to manage in the playoffs. Thompson was released from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, but doctors told him it would be too risky for him to make the trip to Salem, Va. When I visited Thompson in the hospital on Tuesday, I could tell how much he wanted to be with his team. But, he had to listen to his doctors. Fate dealt him a tough blow. Thompson was the leader and the motivator of the Frederick Keys. He was the one who gave them their get up and go. I first met the 49-year-old Thompson at spring training this year. The Orioles official who pointed him out to me smiled and said, "Don't believe anything he says." Thompson told me we would have fun this year and he was right. I found him to be a very outgoing person who, like most Keys managers, always had time to talk with me. He also enjoyed giving me a hard time, which didn't bother me. He told me when I first met him that he was an emotional person. That was an understatement. Players and umpires will attest to that. He also was loud. But, from what I could see, he was close to his players and coaches. When Frederick coach J.J. Cannon talked Saturday about Thompson missing the playoffs, he fought back tears. Thompson and his players kidded around a lot. But he also got on them when they weren't doing what he wanted them to do. He had a way of making sure they knew he was unhappy. They usually got the message. After the Keys beat Salem to win the title, Tuesday's winning pitcher and playoffs MVP Chorye Spoone sent Thompson a message saying, "That one's for you, man. Wish you could have been here. We're bringing the rings home." That was a nice gesture. It's just unfortunate and unfair that he wasn't in Salem to share winning the title with them. WHEN LOOKING AT what the Keys did during the regular season, there is no way they should have won the league title. They finished with a 64-74 record, 32-37 in each half. The Northern Division was so weak at the start of the season, the Keys managed to win the first-half title and make the playoffs. They were third in the second half, 13 games behind first-place Wilmington. For the season, the Keys were last in the league in hitting and next-to-last in pitching. There were times they started a lineup that had four players (or even five) hitting below .200. Except for Spoone, the starting pitching -- supposedly the strength of the team -- was erratic. The middle relievers struggled. The players made far too many mistakes, especially base-running mistakes. However, the Orioles made some late season changes that helped the team: They sent second baseman Blake Davis down from Bowie. They traded for outfielder Chris Amador and sent him to Frederick .And, they signed outfielder Brent Krause, who was playing for an independent league team. All three hit well. Third baseman Ryan Finan overcame some injury problems and Mark Fleisher started to hit with the power he lost during the first part of the season. Catcher Zach Dillon hit better. The Keys became a better offensive team. Starters David Hernandez and Jason Berken started to pitch better. Carlos Perez (who was later called up to Bowie) and Jason Burch became effective closers. The Keys became a better team the final month of the season. They were 16-13 in their last 29 games, after going 16-24 in their first 40 of the second half. Then, they seemed to put it all together in the playoffs. Frederick beat a Wilmington team that was 45-24 and had run away with the second-half title. Then, the Keys eliminated a Salem team had beaten them 14 times in 20 games during the regular season. The odds were against the Keys, but somehow they managed to pull it off. PRIOR TO THE ORIOLES game with Los Angeles on Wednesday, several members of the Keys were honored, as was the team itself for winning the title at Minor League Appreciation Night. Thompson was given the Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award given to a minor league staff member of exemplifies the qualities of the former Oriole coach and scout. Keys pitcher Jason Berken was given the Elrod Hendricks Minor League Community award for working in the community. Berken went to outreach programs for the Keys. "When I was young, I knew how much it meant to me to have players of higher status speak to you," Berken said. "It's easy to spend two hours with them." He went to schools and libraries, camps and retirement homes. Longtime Keys clubhouse manager George Bell, who is retiring, was presented with a framed Orioles jersey. Seven members of the Keys were at the ceremony, including Spoone, Brandon Erbe, Berken, Hernandez, Paul Winterling, Blake Owens and Kennard Jones. They carried the Mills Cup Trophy out with them. "It was great," Spoone said. "I'm planning on being here (in the major leagues) soon."
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