While theoretically based in Chicago, the House of David travel the backroads of the country with a portable stadium used for their home games. It’s a life.
On the field, it’s an example of how important upper end performance is to a team, and how painful it can be when it falls off.
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While they are still within 2 games of the final NL Wild Card spot, it’s been a disappointing year for the House of David. The offense has been decent enough–and there are some clear positive indications for next year–but the pitching has been a struggle. Overall, a lot can be placed at the feet of Pete Browning and Jack Taylor, superstars last year who have failed to deliver this season.
THE OFFENSE
It’s a good offense. The BA and OBP are perhaps a little low, but there’s enough power to compensate, and ultimately, this ain’t the issue with the team.
#What’s Going Right
Ernie Banks has exploded into superstardom, with a 1.031 OPS and 117 RBI’s heading into September. Banks is 3rd in the league in homers with 54, and is clearly the dominant cog in the House of David offense, and perhaps the dominant offensive SS in the league.
Richie Hebner, not projected as a starter, also has an OPS over 1.000, and has edged into an everyday role, slashing 296/387/636 in just under 300 PAs.
The House of David as found 2 standout 1Bs this year in Anthony Rizzo and Mark McGwire. McGwire has played in just under 40 games, but is managing to maintain an OPS around .950 with a BA barely over .200: that’s a lot of walks and a lot of homeruns (17 of each in 140 PAs). Rizzo is slashing 276/389/581.
Ryne Sandberg continues to deliver at 2B, with 35 homers and a .930 OPS.
Ron Santo, has been mired in a slump recently, but still has an OPS around .850.
George Stone, George Gore, and Jim Edmonds all cluster around an .800 OPS in the OF, with Gore the most effective of the 3, taking most of the CF time from Edmonds.
Sammy Sosa has 37 homers, 2nd on the team.
#What’s Not Going Right
Pete Browning has been hurt, limiting his availability to about 75 games. More importantly, when healthy, last year’s superstar has struggled, with an OPS under .750.
Sammy Sosa‘s 37 homeruns are part of a .750 OPS as the immensely talented OF struggles constantly to put good wood on the ball.
Combine this with the above and the OF picture is just horribly confused. Gore, Stone, Edmonds, Sosa, and Browning (and the supernova debut of Tony Conigliaro) all result in none of the OF spots having a clear claimant.
Elrod Hendricks has been … not terrible, but not at all good. 22 homeruns is nice from a catcher, but a sub .700 OPS is not.
Frank Chance–given every, um, chance, to supplant Hendricks–has an even lower OPS, although he has shown a decent ability to get on base.
THE PITCHING
The House of David entered the season concerned about how they would fill out the rotation behind Jack Taylor. Now they’re worried about all of the staff, including Taylor. It’s not pretty.
#What’s Going Right
Bob Rush, who leads the team in wins with 10, has been quite solid, and CC Sabathia has pitched far better than his 5-11 record would indicate.
Youngster Kyle Peterson has been a revelation, with a 3.51 ERA and 1.13 WHIP over 11 starts.
Veteran lefty Jimmy Key has done well out of the pen. But well in this context is an ERA just over 5.00 and a WHIP hovering in the 1.20 range. So … not great.
Having traded away or demoted all of their closers, Karl Spooner has quite unexpectedly stepped into the spotlight and pitched quite well at the end of games.
#What’s Not Going Right
Taylor has been awful for much of the year, with an ERA well over 6.00 most of the season. Now, it must be said, he’s pitched significantly better of late, winning his last 5 decisions and dropping his ERA by roughly a run.
They’ve run a lot of arms through the rotation, with Frank Sullivan, Kerry Wood, Ferguson Jenkins, and Rick Reuschel all getting at least 5 starts. Of those, only Reuschel has been passable.
THE FARM SYSTEM
TOP PROSPECTS | MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
It’s a very high ranked system and, honestly, it’s not hard to see why.
There is star potential in the OF in Cody Bellinger and Heliodoro Hidalgo, on the IF with Darren Daulton, Cap Anson and Dave Malarcher. On the mound, it seems like some arms will come through from the group of Larry Dierker, Bill Lee, Eddie Rommel, Ad Gumbert, and Joe Nuxhall.
Danny Green, Tip O’Neill, Frank Dwyer, Bunny Downs, and Chris Brown may all see some WBL time as well. So there is some help on the way in terms of talent.
The challenge is that much of the talent is positionally blocked: the OF just gets more crowded, 3B is pretty much set, etc. Daulton has the clearest path, but is still a year or two away.
WHAT’S NEEDED
Probably a blockbuster trade or two to obtain some pitching and clear out some of the positional redundancy.
Storylines to Watch
Key Questions from Spring Training
- How does the team integrate its considerable young talent into the roster as the season progresses? As many as 8 spots on the pitching staff are available, as are the backup C and IF jobs. This is probably the first of these that is totally off base. So much optimism in the Spring, crashed on the rocks of the pitching mound. That said, Santo, Hebner, Chance, Rizzo, Sosa, and Banks are all 25 or younger, so in that sense, the focus on the development of the young talent was correct.
FEATURED SERIES
We’ll focus on the 3 game matchup with Homestead. Currently, the two teams are 4th and 5th in the Wild Card race, separated by only .5 of a game. A sweep here either way would solidify the postseason claim of either side.
Projected Starters
House of David starter listed first.
Kyle Peterson (7-2, 3.51) @ Francisco Liriano (8-11, 5.18)
Jack Taylor (9-10, 6.02) @ Doug Drabek (4-6, 4.98)
Bob Rush (10-7, 5.42) @ Cliff Lee (6-3, 5.44)
If the projected starters hold, it looks as good as it can for the House of David, giving them a decent shot to take 2 out of 3 … but a sweep would be better.
Game One
On the one hand, this is a September matchup between 2 disappointing teams, both sitting a few games below .500. But. Homestead is only 1.5 games off the Wild Card pace, and the House of David is merely .5 a game behind them.
So here we go, with something to play for.
The impressive Kyle Peterson takes the mound for the House of David, while the Grays counter with their erstwhile #1 starter, Francisco Liriano.
The House of David took an early lead when, after a double by Craig Reynolds, Frank Chance legged out an infield hit to plate a run. Chance was thrown out trying to steal, but Pete Browning followed a Richie Hebner double with an RBI single for the 2-0 lead.
Rick Reichardt got one back with his 37th homer of the year in the bottom of the 4th and then, an inning later, Honus Wagner and Andy Van Slyke each doubled, tying the game. Mike Epstein hit a dribbler that found its way to dead space, plating Van Slyke so, after 5 innings, Homestead led, 3-2.
But, no worries for the House of David: after all, they have Tony Conigliaro. The supernova like debut for the young OF continued, as he ripped his 6th homerun 1n 17 at bats off Liriano in the 7th, tying the game. And then, a familiar disaster for the House of David: Pete Browning being helped off the field with an injury. This time, it was legging out a double, plating Chance with the go-ahead run.
Van Slyke tied it up in the bottom of the 9th with a double off Ed Bauta. That setup intentional walks to load the bases, with Bauta facing Reichardt with the game on the line. Reichardt did his job, lifting a decent pitch far enough into LF to score the tagging Van Slyke, giving Homestead the first game of the series.
Browning had 3 hits before his injury, and Wagner rapped out 3 hits for the Grays.
HOD 4 (Bauta 4-5, BSv 6; Downs H 1; Spooner H 3) @ HOM 5 (Lindblom 8-4)
HRs: HOD – Conigliaro (6); HOM – Reichardt (37).
Box Score
Browning headed to the DL after the game, hopefully to return before the season closes out, with the House of David recalling young IF Dave Malarcher.
Game Two
With Jack Taylor not quite rested, the House of David will go with Jimmy Key, giving the veteran lefty his 2nd start of the season against Homestead’s Doug Drabek.
Key struggled off the bat, surrendering back to back homeruns to Josh Gibson and Willie Stargell in the bottom of the 1st for an early 3-0 lead for the Grays. An Andrew McCutchen homerun, a Judy Johnson triple, and Stargell’s 2nd shot of the game chased Key in the 2nd inning, but the runs kept coming via a 2 run single from Napoleon Lajoie, making it 10-0 after 2 innings.
More runs scored, which really made the game a chance for each team to empty their benches, including a WBL debut for the recently recalled Dave Malarcher.
The House of David avoided a shutout on a 2-run double from Tony Conigliaro in the 9th, but that was cold comfort in a 16-2 loss.
McCutchen, Lajoie, Honus Wagner, and Johnson each had 3 hits for Homestead, with McCutchen driving in 4 and Gibson 3.
HOD 2 (Key 3-1) @ HOM 16 (Drabek 5-6)
HRs: HOD – none; HOM – Stargell 2 (47), Gibson (38), McCutchen (21).
Box Score
Game Three
This was not a good time for the House of David to not show up … they head into the third game of the series having dropped to 3.5 games off the Wild Card pace (while Homestead has moved to only a single game back of Kansas City).
The House of David will send Jack Taylor to the hill, with Homestead countering with Hal Carlson, making his 2nd start of the season.
It started well for the House of David: Carlson loaded the bases, then gave up a 3-run double to Sammy Sosa. Richie Hebner added a solo shot–his 23rd homer of the year–in the 2nd, upping the lead to 4-0.
Honus Wagner cut the lead to 4-1 with an RBI double in the bottom of the 2nd, then Willie Stargell closed the game to 4-3 with his 48th homerun of the year.
The House of David touched Carlson for one more run in the 5th on an RBI double from Anthony Rizzo, but again Taylor gave it back, this time on a 2-run double from Josh Gibson, tying the game at 5.
Carlson was replaced by David Price, who promptly gave up a moon shot to Sosa: 6-5, House of David. Ron Santo‘s 28th of the year gave the House of David a 2 run edge heading into the bottom of the 9th, when they turned to Ed Bauta, who easily closed it out.
HOD 7 (Taylor 10-10; Bauta 5 Sv; Sullivan 1 H; Spooner 4 H) @ HOM 5 (Price 1-1)
HRs: HOD – Hebner (23), Sosa (38), Santo (27); HOM – Stargell (48).
Box Score
So … by salvaging the final game, the House of David maintain touch with the Wild Card race, but just barely.