DATE: Sunday, July 27, 1997                 TAG: 9707270185

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   83 lines

SWOOPING IN FOR THE WIN AT 9-0 IN RELIEF, JIM DOUGHERTY HAS EARNED THE NAME ``VULTURE.''

Teammates call him ``Vulture.''

His manager calls him a novelty.

Opponents appreciate him about as much as a stitch in the side.

Whatever the opinion of Jim Dougherty, the fact remains that he's 9-0 with a 1.33 earned-run average and is arguably the surprise success of the season for the Norfolk Tides.

A righthanded sinkerball pitcher with a sidearm delivery, Dougherty has become the Tides' go-to guy in the late innings when a game is either tied or Norfolk trails by a run.

He's taken the mound 35 times but has pitched a mere 47 1/3 innings, fewer than six nine-inning games. And yet he has as many wins as anyone on the staff.

``I've been getting a lot of ribbing for my `vulture' wins,'' Dougherty said. ``I come into games when there's an opportunity to win, I pitch an inning or two, the team scores a couple runs and I get the decision. I don't mind that much being called `Vulture.' It means we're winning.''

Dougherty solidified his status by picking up three wins in 11 days, from July 3 to July 13. But opponents already knew he was having a monumental season before that.

``About a month ago, at our place, he was at third base and I flat out told him, `I can't stand facing you,' '' said Charlotte third baseman Lou Lucca. ``He said, `What are you talking about? You just drilled a line drive that nearly took my head off.' I told him it was his mistake, the pitch he threw me accidentally hit my bat.

``Any righthanded hitter who tells you he doesn't mind hitting against a side-armer is lying. They drop down and you naturally step out. And if they throw you a slider on the outside part of the plate, you've got almost no hope.''

Opponents are hitting .235 against Dougherty, but righthanders are batting only .179. Much of the reason is that his fastball tends to run in on righthanders, meaning that even when they hit it, they usually don't get the ball on the bat's sweet spot.

Dougherty developed his unique delivery prior to his senior season at the University of North Carolina. After going undrafted following his junior season, he figured he needed a ``hook'' to stay in baseball.

``If I hadn't gone sidearm, the only way I'd have played after college would have been in a Sunday beer league,'' Dougherty, 29, said. ``I'd goofed around with the sidearm delivery before, and finally Mark Halvorson, my pitching coach at UNC, told me I should think about throwing it exclusively. There was a lot of trial and error involved. Sidearm pitchers are pretty much on their own. You end up coaching yourself with the mechanics.''

Dougherty was 12-2 with a 1.70 ERA as a senior, and the Houston Astros took him in the 26th round of the 1990 draft. He made it to the big leagues with the Astros for parts of the last two seasons and owns a major league 8-6 record.

Although he was a starter in college, he's never started as a pro, and the Houston organization actually groomed him his first four seasons as a closer. He averaged 29 saves a season in his first four stops up the Houston organizational ladder.

Tides manager Rick Dempsey got a good look at Dougherty while managing the Albuquerque Dukes in the Pacific Coast League.

``I saw him for two years when he was with Tucson and he was always a tough pitcher to face,'' Dempsey said. ``Side-armers are novelties. And they afford a manager a chance to completely change the look hitters are getting. Jim's got a hot hand right now and believe me, I'm looking for the opportunity to get him in games at the right time.''

Houston, however, was no longer the right place at the right time following last season.

``I wasn't in their future plans,'' Dougherty said, and he asked for a release. The Tides offered an opportunity to play close to home - Dougherty has lived with his wife in Kitty Hawk since leaving UNC. For that reason, he's usually the first player out of the clubhouse after home games.

``I've got about a 90-minute commute and I've learned that whether I go fast or slow, it's still 90 minutes,'' said Dougherty, who is known to sneak midafternoon naps in the clubhouse. ``Something always seems to slow me down. I usually get home right around midnight.

``That's why I always look so tired. It's not an easy drive. I've got my eyes peeled for deer all the way.''

Or possum. Or raccoons.

No need for road kill, even for this vulture. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

VICI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu