vettemaster

The game that got Rauch to get chosen for the Olympic team was in Birmingham and he threw a compete game 2 hit shut out with 14 K's. He was hitting 93-94 in that game in the ninth inning. Last year Rauch was hitting 94 in the game against Minn in Sept, which by the way he had a 1 hitter thru 5 innings and only gave up 1 run in 7 innings and I am sure he will at 94-96 when spring time rolls around. Some one was questioning Rauch's mental makeup...whats with that??? I have never seen Rauch lose his composure on the mound. He is not afraid to pitch inside and is not intiminated by ANYONE. I am really looking forward to watching Rauch take the 4-5th spot in the rotation in 2004. GO SOX, GO JON RAUCH

Maybe someone could help me undersand why several people are so down on Jon Rauch? I have seen this monster-man pitch many times and have seen both good and bad games, but there is one thing for certain Rauch is a fierce competitor. This kid will be ready when spring training starts in 2004. Lets take a look at this past year for Rauch. I was there when he got lit-up in Toledo and I was also there when the team asked him to pitch at 1:30 AM when they just got through the longest game on record. He had a 3 hitter and a complete game to boot, they won both games of the double header and the second game Rauch pitched ended at 3:45 AM. One thing I noticed at this second game is that there were only 50 fans left in the stands, however the seven scouts watched and recorded every pitch Rauch made that morning. Let me ask another question. What could have been the results if mgt would have called up Rauch in August/Sept?? He won his last 5 games and had a era at 2.10 for that span of time. He was hitting 92-93 and his curve ball was on the money. He would have pitched several times against Minn, and who knows what the outcome would have been. Rauch started approx 24 games and lost only ONE!! I know everyone has there favorite players and as you can tell one of them for me is Jon Rauch. Maybe the best thing that the WHITESOX did was not calling up Rauch in August/Sept because it really got him mad....Rauch has a lot to prove, so get ready everyone and lets watch this BIG MAN rock and roll in 2004. GO SOX AND JON RAUCH!!

Here is how Rauch actually did yesterday at Indy...He gave up one hit in 4 innings and then gave up two straight singles to start the fifth. Then when pitching to the next hitter he had the man struck out, twice, went to a 3-2 count and the hitter hit a deep fly ball to left center field and should have been caught by either the left or center fielder, the ball went for a triple(after the fielder fell down with the ball) and 2 runs scored. The next hitter hit a fly ball to the left fielder and that is how the 3rd run came across the plate. Jon gave up one more hit in the fifth but was able to get out of the inning with out any more runs scored. Jon came back out in the sixth inning and went 1,2,3 and set them down. Jon was hitting 91-92 through-out the six innings but was really squeased buy the umpire. All I am trying to tell you is that it was not a bad start for Jon and dont count this big man out...he will be back, count on it!!!!!!!!! GO SOX