The Hounds crushed the Rangers tonight behind a complete game win of Jeremy Schmitz, and the Marlins beat the Vikings, so the Hounds have made the playoffs as the sixth and final seed!
The Hounds play the Aviators this weekend in the first round of the playoffs:
*#*
*Date*
*Day*
*Time*
*Opponent*
*H/V*
*Field*
*R1 G1*
*8/1/2015*
*Saturday*
*1:00 PM*
*Aviators*
*V*
*Winnemac*
*R1 G2*
*8/2/2015*
*Sunday*
*12:00 PM*
*Aviators*
*H*
*Winnemac*
*R1 G3*
*8/5/2015*
*Wednesday*
*5:30 PM*
*Aviators*
*V*
*Winnemac*
See you there!

The Chicago Hounds lost 5-4 in 10 innings v. the league-leading Marlins yesterday, and then lost 15-6 tonight v. the playoff bound Browns. The score was 4-4 after 4 innings tonight, but then the Browns took over–despite home runs from both Keith Richardson (#17, 1B/SS) and T.J. Rinaldi (#1, CF).
The Hounds are now 12-14-1, and still in 6th place in the CMBA with 25 points, but could be overtaken by the Vikings, Yankees, or Red Sox, who all have potential for more total points as they have more games to play.
The Hounds play the cellar dwelling Rangers the final 3 games of the season–a doubleheader on Saturday and the final game next Tuesday. If they win all 3 games, the Hounds still have the potential to get a playoff spot with 31 points, but it will require the Vikings to have no more than 15 wins (31 points as well, but the Hounds have the tiebreaker), the Yankees to have a max of 15 wins (30 points), and the Red Sox to have a max of 15/30 as well. The Aviators and Orioles do not yet have 30 points either, but with 8 and 6 games remaining, they are unlikely to lose out.
Not impossible, but not necessarily easy either. The Hounds will rest up, try to heal some injuries over the next 4 days, and then look to sweep the doubleheader v. the Rangers at Winnemac on Saturday.

The Hounds scuffled today, dropping their first game since June 21. The Aviators beat the overmatched Hounds 14-2 in only 5 innings at a beautiful Winnemac Park.
Brian Hearns (#30, P) drove back early from a family trip only to find just 8 Hounds at the field, no subs, and many regulars were out or injured. Hearns probably was sorry he made the drive, but at least he helped prevent a forfeit, which has not been an issue at all with the Hounds this season–this was a rare game without 11 in the game and a couple subs on the bench.
Only Kyle Hanson (#2, 2B) and Matthew Steffens (#5, SS) were able to score in the game, and Tony Correa (#13, 3B) led the team in getting on base, as he reached by an error and walked in his 2 plate appearances (the Hounds only batted 9 today, and 8 of them only got to the plate 2 times). The Hounds faced a tough pitcher with a good fastball and a slider that was pretty fast as well, and the Hounds batters struck out for 7 of their 15 outs. The umpire was rough today–the zone was really wide, but we cannot blame him, we just got beat.
So today was a rough one, but we will move on and look forward to starting a new win streak with just 7 games left in the 2015 regular season. Playoff spots are not yet determined, and the Hounds will need to keep winning to make it.
Schedule for the remainder of the season:
*#*
*Date*
*Day*
*Time*
*Opponent (Hounds v.)*
*H/V*
*Field*
*24*
*7/14/2015*
*Tuesday*
*5:50 PM*
*Orioles (1-1)*
*V*
*Ridgewood HS*
*25*
*7/15/2015*
*Wednesday*
*5:50 PM*
*Pirates (2-0)*
*H*
*Winnemac*
*26*
*7/19/2015*
*Sunday*
*10:00 AM*
*Marlins (0-2)*
*V*
*Southwest*
*27*
*7/20/2015*
*Monday*
*6:15 PM*
*Browns (1-1)*
*V*
*Columbus Park*
*28*
*7/25/2015*
*Saturday*
*12:15 PM*
*Rangers*
*H*
*Winnemac*
*29*
*7/25/2015*
*Saturday*
*3:00 PM*
*Rangers*
*V*
*Winnemac*
*30*
*7/28/2015*
*Tuesday*
*5:50 PM*
*Rangers*
*H*
*Winnemac*

The Chicago Hounds defeated the Red Sox in a twin bill today, winning 11-8 in Game 1 and 6-5 in Game 2. The Hounds have now won 7 consecutive games and are 11-10-1 on the season (after starting 3-9-1).
T.J. Rinaldi (#1, CF) was the biggest factor on offense today, reaching base safely in all 7 plate appearances–with 2 singles, 2 walks, a reach by error, a triple, and a monstrous home run into the infield of the Little League field in deep left center of the field at Taft High School. Rinaldi scored 3 times, stole 2 bases, and had 1 RBI (on the home run). Anthony Camacho (#14, EH in Game 1, EH/RF in Game 2) also had a big day–driving in 5 runs on a Sac Fly, a single, a double, and on a fielder’s choice. The Hounds had contributions from everyone up and down the lineup in both games, these were quality team wins.
Robert Bavone (#10, P) came out of early retirement to pitch a complete game win in the first game. The 8 runs given up were more of a factor of the awful field conditions at Taft than anything else. The infield has been overrun with grass and weeds, no bounce is true, it is far, far worse than Winnemac ever was at its worst. Bavone went the distance and the Hounds were very happy to have him back on the hill.
Kurt Kerrigan (#12, RF in Game 1, P in Game 2) also got a complete game win in Game 2 of the doubleheader. Kerrigan was frustrated with his mechanics, but he still managed to strike out 9 Sox, including the final 3 batters in the 7th inning to put the game away. Kerrigan also had a double and scored a run in Game 1.
The Hounds next play the Aviators tomorrow morning at 9:30 am at Winnemac Park. The Aviators beat the Hounds the previous 2 times, both by 1 run each, so the Hounds look to exact revenge and get their 8th win in a row on this fantastic win streak.

The Chicago Hounds defeated the Vikings 6-2 tonight at a weedy, horrible Taft High School field tonight, behind the gutty complete game performance of Jeremy Schmitz (#3, P). Schmitz did not have his best stuff and was nursing a sore arm, but he committed to seven innings early in the game and he produced.
The Hounds have won 5 in a row, and are now legitimately in 6th place in the CMBA, which would put them in the 6th playoff spot if the season were to end today. After a 3-9-1 start, this has been a remarkable turnaround for the Hounds. The Hounds continued with great defense tonight, as they were better suited to the ridiculous bounces Taft brought–the home Vikings were much more perplexed and the Hounds reached base several times on hits? errors? how do you score it when it really appears to be the field’s fault? The Hounds were also blessed with some favorable calls from umpire Laguardia Cooper. Yes, I have been in this league for 13 years, and I finally asked Coop what his first name is tonight. Laguardia. Like the airport.
The Hounds offense was led by Nolan Bielinski (#4, C) who reached safely all 4 plate appearances, and scored 2 runs. TJ Rinaldi (#1, CF), Keith Richardson (#17, 1B), Matt Hansen (#26, 2B), and Matthew Steffens (#5, SS) also scored Hound runs, and Max Kiefer (#21, LF) got off a recent snide with a line drive RBI single. The defense was led by Brent Schoenbach (#7, 3B) who made the bad bounces seem like child’s play. The infield turned a nice double play, and Jack Diechl (#31, RF) caught a line-drive ball in the dark and in the rain late in the game that most Hounds were unable to even see. Key play, just need to get him some baserunning lessons!
The Hounds next play the Red Sox in a doubleheader at Taft on Saturday, and play the league leading Aviators on Sunday at Winnemac. A sweep will put the Hounds above .500 for the first time this season.
See you there!

The Chicago Hounds beat the Vikings 9-6 tonight with Nick Freeman getting the complete game win.
The Hounds have won 4 of their last 5 games and are now 7-10-1 on the 2015 season.
Next game is Sunday July 5th v. the Pirates at Walther Lutheran at 9:30 am.
Happy 4th of July!

Hounds–here are the standings so far this season. 2 points for a win, 1 for a tie. I organize it by points per game (a little different than the league website, where they just go by points).
Most of our losses have come from the top 3 teams, we play a lot of games against the middle and bottom of the pack the rest of the way, so we still have a great shot at the playoffs if we keep winning. The top 6 teams make the playoffs–2 teams get a bye, and 2 teams are the wildcard–3 plays 6, and 4 plays 5.
*CMBA (Hounds v.)*
*W*
*L*
*T*

*Pts*
*Pts/G*
*%*

*Runs*
*RPG*

*RA*
*RAG*

*R+/-*
*Aviators (0-2)*
10
3
0

20
1.54
.769

105
8.08

78
6.00

2.08
*Electrons (1-2)*
10
5
0

20
1.33
.667

119
7.93

72
4.80

3.13
*Marlins (0-2)*
9
4
0

17
1.31
.692

56
4.31

46
3.54

0.77
*Browns (1-1)*
9
6
0

18
1.20
.600

127
8.47

94
6.27

2.20
*Yankees (2-1)*
6
6
0

12
1.00
.500

61
5.08

74
6.17

(1.08)
*Vikings (0-0-1)*
5
5
1

11
1.00
.500

33
3.00

72
6.55

(3.55)

*Red Sox (0-1)*
6
7
0

12
0.92
.462

93
7.15

85
6.54

0.62
*CHICAGO HOUNDS*
*6*
*10*
*1*

*13*
*0.76*
*.382*

*73*
*4.29*

*75*
*4.41*

*(0.12)*
*Orioles (1-1)*
4
7
0

8
0.73
.364

53
4.82

62
5.64

(0.82)
*Pirates (1-0)*
5
10
0

10
0.67
.333

69
4.60

107
7.13

(2.53)
*Rangers*
3
10
0

6
0.46
.231

65
5.00

87
6.69

(1.69)

You know the drill, these things write themselves. The Chicago Hounds displayed great defense, yet again had stellar pitching, couldn’t score, lost by 1. Today it was a 3-2 loss to the Orioles at Ridgewood High School.

Matt Burch (#6, P, 3-1, ERA 2.00 in 28 innings pitched) suffered his first loss of the year, scattering 7 hits, walking only 2, and striking out 6, pitching a complete game. He has been the Hounds mound MVP this season, and will be looking to provide some offense tomorrow as the DH.

The Hounds defense only gave up one error today. Matthew Steffens (#5, SS) had 4 putouts and 5 assists at shortstop, and Tony Correa (#13, C) was stellar behind the plate, including adding to the popular Hound catcher assist stat, this time on a throw to second to force a runner after a fly pop dropped in between the mound and the plate.

The Hounds only had 5 hits today. Steffens had 2 singles, T.J. Rinaldi (#1, CF) singled and scored, Max Kiefer (#21, RF) singled and had 2 RsBI, and Kyle Hanson (#2, PH) had a line-drive pinch hit single in the final frame. Keith Richardson (#17, LF), Brent Schoenbach (#7, 3B), Rinaldi, Correa, Eduardo Sotelo (#25, 1B), and Patrick Stacy (#16, RF) each walked, and Kiefer also reached by error. But despite those 12 baserunners, the Hounds could only plate 2 (Rinaldi and Correa off of the single by Kiefer). Twice the Hounds failed to score after loading the bases (in the third, and again in the 7th).

The best play of the game came in the 4th inning when the game was tied. With 1 out the Orioles catcher singled and was replaced at first by a courtesy runner. The Orioles only had 9 men at the game, and were not employing a first base coach. The Oriole pinch runner asked Eduardo at first base how many outs there were, and Eduardo simply lied to him and said “two outs.” The next Oriole batter hit a routine fly ball to short, but the courtesy runner scooted to second, thinking there were 2 outs. Steffens threw to Sotelo for a quick 6-3 double play, as the duped runner screamed, “but he told me there were two outs!!!!”

Hounds play the Electrons tomorrow at Winnemac Park at 9:30 am. Jeremy Schmitz is on the mound, the Hounds look to start a very long winning streak by bringing some anger to their at-bats tomorrow, and then we will celebrate at K’s Dugout, this time, we will buy the Electrons their beers.

The 2015 Chicago Hounds are a good baseball team, make no mistake about it, record be damned. And yet, they suffered yet another 1-run loss today at Winnemac Park, this time 6-5 to the Marlins in only 6 innings (shortened because of the no inning can start after 8pm rule, employed in large part because the Marlins pitcher was the slowest pitcher we have ever faced–slowest in terms of time in between pitches, not the velocity of his throws–as Brent Schoenbach (#7, 3B) said, it is like he is trying to “decode a cipher” with every read of the catcher’s signs).
The Hounds were solid on defense and on the mound yet again. And this time the Hound batsmen scored 5 runs, which is pretty good against the Marlins, and considering the few runs the Hounds have scored this year. But, it wasn’t enough.
The Hounds stranded 3 runners at 3rd base, twice with no outs, and in the 7th inning, with only 1 out. That was the difference in the game. And, as Brent and I often do, we blame ourselves–this time it was me, up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the last inning–a hit and we win, and out and we lose, and I just didn’t get the job done. This after walking, getting a single, and having a great defensive game–but my takeaway will be letting the team down in the end. Such is this sport.
The Hounds got fantastic pitching from Jon “he turned out to be a 2-inning ringer” Rivera (#20, P). Rivera only allowed 1 run in his 2 innings pitched. We hope he moves from North Carolina back to Chicago to play with us next season. Max Kiefer (#21, RF/P) also pitched 3 scoreless innings in the 4th through 6th. Keith Richardson (#19 today, usually #17, 1B/P/LF) took the loss as the Marlins scored 5 runs in the critical 3rd inning as the Marlins batted around.
Richardson scored 2 runs for the Hounds in the leadoff position, and Schoenbach, Matthew Steffens (#5, SS) and Patrick Stacy (#16, LF/RF) also scored. TJ Rinaldi (#1, CF), Steffens, and Kiefer all had RsBI (Rinaldi had 2). Nolan Bielinski (#4, C) reached base safely 3 times (with a single and 2 walks), but was stranded on the bases all 3 times.
The Hounds have 2 games this weekend, and really need to get back in the win column. But again, despite the record, they are a solid baseball team. In a major league season of 162 games these 11 games would be but a blip. Small sample size and all that. Blah blah blah. The Hounds just need to get some wins.

The Chicago Hounds lost 3-2 to the league-leading Aviators tonight at Winnemac Park, and now have a 3-6-1 record after 10 games. The Hounds have lost 3 games by 1 run (1 in 9 innings), lost another game by 2 runs, and also tied a game (in 10 innings). But really, the key is that the Hounds just need to score more runs. The defense has been solid, the pitching has been outstanding–in fact, the Hounds have given up the fewest runs per game by all teams in the CMBA–allowing only 4.2 runs per game (league average is 6.32). Unfortunately, the Hounds have also scored fewer runs per game than all teams but 1 (the Vikings).

Jeremy Schmitz (#3, P) deserved the win tonight. Prior to the game he was not sure he could even play, due to a hamstring pull in the last game. But instead, he pitched a complete game, striking out 7 (those strikeouts came in the final 4 frames, as Schmitz kept getting stronger as the game moved on). Schmitz only gave up 1 earned run, as the first 2 Aviators scored on 2 Hound errors in the first. The Aviators scored again in the 2nd, taking a 3-0 lead, but Schmitz completely shut the Aviators down in the next 5 innings, allowing only 2 batters above the minimum the rest of the way. Schmitz gave up 6 hits in the first 2, but then only 1 hit and 1 walk in the next 5. His performance was Burch-like (except for the W).

The Hounds got their scoring in the 2nd and the 6th, but in both innings left a runner at third base. In the 2nd Nolan Bielinski (#4, C) led off with a single. After 2 quick outs, Anthony Correa (#13, 2B) doubled, driving in Bielinski for a 3-1 Aviators lead. Harold Honeyman-Bloede (#40, LF) singled, but the potential rally ended with the next batter and Correa at third. In the 6th inning Brent Schoenbach (#7, 3B) doubled, and then Mike Mudd (#29, RF) singled to drive in Schoenbach for the second Hound run. Unfortunately Mudd got deked by the second baseman as he tried to stretch the single into a double, and was thrown out at 2nd by the right fielder. Bielinski then tripled, but was stranded at third. No more Hound scoring the rest of the way.

The Hounds play the Marlins on Thursday at Winnemac–a rare sighting by the Marlins at Foster and Damen, as the Marlins play 90+% of their games at Southwest Park. The Hounds are in need of a winning streak, and hope to start it Thursday.