Friday, June 14, 1996

PDogs finally in first place

By AL PICKETT
Sports Editor

How about those Dogs?

It took 24 games into their second season of existence, a rain delay, three extra innings and another miraculous comeback, but shortly before midnight Wednesday the Abilene Prairie Dogs could call themselves the Texas-Louisiana League leaders for the first time in franchise history.

The Prairie Dogs rallied to win their second straight extra-inning game Wednesday, beating the Alexandria Aces, 5-3 in 12 innings. Coupled with Amarillo's doubleheader split with Lubbock, the Prairie Dogs began their four-game series Thursday night with the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings in Harlingen in first place in the T-L League, a half-game ahead of the Dillas.

I caught up with Abilene manager Phil Stephenson about 11 a.m. Thursday, shortly after the team had arrived in Harlingen following their 10-hour bus ride from Alexandria, La.

"It feels good," Stephenson said of the team's standing atop the Texas-Louisiana League. "Now we need to keep it for more than a day."

Tuesday's 12-11 win in 10 innings and Wednesday's 5-3 victory in 12 innings are typical of this year's edition of the Prairie Dogs.

On Tuesday, the Dogs trailed 7-2 after seven innings but scored four runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth - on home runs by Barry Jones and Paul Gonzales - to tie the game 9-9. Abilene then scored three more times in the top of the 10th and hung on for the wild victory.

On Wednesday, the Prairie Dogs trailed 3-0 after seven innings, which included a rain delay. But
Paul Coleman rapped a two-run homer in the eighth and Jack Johnson hit a solo shot in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

"It's not good for the old ticker," Stephenson said of the Dogs' propensity to play close games. "I don't know what it is, but the guys seem to thrive under pressure."

After last year's dismal 40-60 record and this year's 0-4 start, Stephenson's team has won 15 of its last 20 games to take over the league lead. All one needs to know about the Prairie Dogs' recent surge can be found in three key statistics:

* Abilene has a 6-1 record in one-run games this season.
* The Prairie Dogs trailed after six innings in eight of their 15 wins.
* The Abilene pitching staff has not blown a save opportunity in the first 24 games this season.

"That says a lot of the type of guys we have," Stephenson said. "If our starting pitching can keep us close, they feel like they can come back."

One of the reasons the Prairie Dogs have been able to protect leads has been the performance of their bullpen.

Ken Winkle has been nothing short of phenomenal as the team's closer. He's 1-0 with a league-leading six saves and a 2.25 earned run average.

He's thrown 12 innings in 11 appearances, allowing just three earned runs. He has 16 strikeouts in just 12 innings. Tuesday night was the first time he's thrown more than one inning in a relief appearance.

"Coming in, I didn't know the mentality of the guys coming back from last year's team," Stephenson said. "I never found a closer I could sign. I talked to a lot of people with the Royals (Winkle played in the Kansas City organization until being released in the middle of last season) and people who had played with Ken. They said he had a good fastball and he threw his off-speed pitches for strikes.

"It was just a question whether he had the resiliency and whether he'd be comfortable in throwing one inning every day or two."

Stephenson told Winkle before the season started that Winkle would be his closer.
"It's worked out great," Stephenson said. "Everything has fallen into place. Ken throws 90 mph. That's 4 or 5 mph faster than anyone else on our staff. For one inning, the other team has to face something they haven't seen."

Winkle had never been a closer in his career in the Royals' organization. And last year, previous Abilene manager Charley Kerfeld used Winkle as a long reliever and spot starter after he joined the team at midseason. Winkle made only 10 appearances last year - one less than he's already had in 24 games this year - with a 4-2 record and 4.20 ERA.

"Once he got here, he saw we would try to establish roles for everyone," Stephenson said. "We've tried to do that with everyone. Players perform better when they understand their role and are comfortable in that role. We're having good success with that."
League-leading success.