Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Rallykiller, Introducing The Little Sports Ace

Wow, what a hockey game last night. I might be one of the few that stayed up to the end...Fleury was amazing in goal, and how about the Penguins tying it with less than a minute in regulation! The Red Wings reminded me a bit of the 1998 Vikings...so close to winning, yet so far. They'll either bounce back strong and dominate Game 6, or they'll get blown out. Hard to say what their emotions will do, but if I had to pick it, I say Detroit bounces back in a big way, takes Game 6 4-1 and wins the Cup.

No doubt some of you are familiar with my concept of Rallykiller. I love my Twins, but there's always one regular player whose performance seems consistently less than stellar...grounding into double plays in key spots, failing to take extra bases, etc. So I bestow the unfortunate honor of "Rallykiller" to those people. A Rallykiller can earn their way out of the title, if they play well, but they generally hold the title for a while...Nick Punto, Luis Rivas, etc. are former Rallykillers. Thus far this season, Mike Lamb held the title for a while, but Delmon Young took it over in early May.

The Twins and Yankees played a remarkable game last night, and Delmon Young did have three RBI doubles. That, along with Cuddy and Mauer's first homer, are promising signs. But, just for a minute, let's focus on Young's misplay in the 8th. On that double, it seemed he could have tried to stretch it into a triple. Instead, he stayed at second and was caught stealing in the next at-bat by Brendan Harris. The Twins won by one anyway, but Harris' at-bat would have scored Young if he were on third and produced a key insurance run. Delmon, despite showing signs of improvement, still appears a bit timid out there...unwilling or afraid to swing for the fences and do the little things to help the team win. In honor of his 8th inning, Young still, at least for a little while longer, is hereby dubbed Rallykiller.

If you didn't know, I am the proud father of a happy, healthy little boy. The Little Sports Ace (TLSA), as I'll call him herein going forward, turned 9 months old on Sunday and had his latest physical yesterday. 21 pounds, 9 ounces (74th percentile) and just under 30 inches long (94th percentile). He's getting to be a big, strong kid...right on schedule to being a first-overall draft pick someday. (Not seriously of course...I won't put any pressure on him to play sports. But, if it makes him happy, what dad wouldn't like to see his son earn a scholarship and play in the big leagues!)

I'm out like Boof Bonser.

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