We looked at
Indianapolis Series XVIII and
Series X and saw the
House of David in action in
Series XVI and
Series V.
Indianapolis ABC's
The ABC's have struggled all year, sitting 6 games under .500 and 9.5 off the pace in the
Effa Manley Division. There have been some bright spots, especially offensively, where
Johnny Bench continues to be among the best backstops in the league, slashing 295/411/564 and leading the team in HRs (20) and RBIs (64). The problem is Bench has been virtually the only power source for the ABC's, with only 3 other players in double digits in homeruns (
Danny Hoffman and
Bob Bescher with 11 and
Hal Morris with 10). SS
Denis Menke (305/394/431) has been a bit of a pleasant surprise, but the team is really hoping the return of
Oscar Charleston and
Joe Morgan from the DL can jump start a pretty anemic attack.
Quite controversially, Indianapolis has adopted a 6 man rotation, choosing almost at random between
Dolf Luque,
Rube Foster,
Doc White,
Johnny Cueto,
David Price, and
Willie Mitchell. White has been excellent, both in the bullpen and across 8 starts, but the rest are fairly identical, sporting ERA's in the 4's with decent secondary numbers.
Rob Dibble has been excellent as a closer, with 20 saves.
Wandering House of David
The House of David are also 3rd in their division, but they sit 4 games over .500 and only 4 games back in the
Bill James Division.
It's not clear how they're doing it, honestly. There is a lot of power here, with both
George Stone (23) and
Elrod Hendricks (21) having hit over 20 homeruns.
Ernie Banks--3rd on the team with 17--leads the way with 63 RBIs. Stone has been superb, slashing 301/391/555, but that only puts him 3rd among the starters in OPS, with
Pete Browning (341/380/584) and the blistering
Anthony Rizzo (329/440/700) in front of him. Rizzo has to cool off at some point, with 7 homeruns in his first 25 games, but the success of the House of David may rest on Browning staying healthy, something that has been a bit of a struggle for him all year.
Ron Santo,
Ryne Sandberg, and the surprising
Dan Ford fill out a lineup that is pretty solid top to bottom.
Jack Taylor and
Bob Rush have led a mediocre group of starters, although both
Eddie Rommel and
Kerry Wood have shown great promise in their first few big league appearances.
Bruce Sutter is the closer, with
Dick Tidrow and
Lee Smith being the most effective arms out of the pen.
Projected Starters
Indianapolis pitcher listed first.
Doc White (5-1, 3.38) @
Frank Sullivan (6-7, 5.20)
Johnny Cueto (7-5, 4.94) @
Jack Taylor (8-8, 3.54)
David Price (4-5, 4.84) @
CC Sabathia (9-9, 4.81)
Dolf Luque (8-8, 4.68) @
Bob Rush (8-5, 4.41)
Prediction
Meh. I like Indianapolis in the first game behind White, but the rest is pretty much a toss-up. Let's say the House of David gets hot, and wins the final 3 to take the series, 3-1.