Reiseplan » I now get to share my daughters special world. It also giv

This story appears in ESPN The Magazines Sept. 19 NFL Preview II Issue. Subscribe today!FORGET JACKIE BRADLEY JR.S breakout, Xander Bogaerts hitting streak or David Ortizs yearlong lovefest: Mookie Betts, the Red Soxs 23-year-old outfielder, is the teams most indispensable player, and a legitimate MVP candidate.Betts is among the AL leaders in runs, hits and RBIs, but you could argue that his biggest strength has been coming through in the clutch. Betts has five of the Soxs top 16 games in win probability added (WPA), a measure of how much one player affects his teams chances to win. Here are the stories behind some of his best games.1 DOWN WITH THE BIRDS AUG. 16 AT BALTIMORE RED SOX 5, ORIOLES 3 BETTS WPA: 0.505THE SCENE Let it be said, with little hyperbole, that Betts defeated the Orioles single-handedly. Batting cleanup, he broke a scoreless stalemate in the fifth inning with a two-out, three-run homer off Baltimore starter Yovani Gallardo. And after the Orioles rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the seventh, Betts bashed a two-run homer in the next inning against setup man Brad Brach, against whom right-handed hitters had been 8-for-102 (.078). Betts drove in all five Red Sox runs. About the only thing he didnt do was pitch.BETTS TAKE I knew it was going to be tough [facing Brach]. I tried to swing early and be aggressive, because I know hes going to be in the zone. Once you get two strikes, its pretty much over at that point with him. ... Batting cleanup can be tough, but I was just trying to put a good swing on a good pitch, trying to drive the ball like I always do, with my same approach. [Being a power hitter] is definitely weird. Ive never been that in my life. Im just going to try to enjoy it while its here.2 HOUSTON HAS A PROBLEM MAY 15 AT BOSTON RED SOX 10, ASTROS 9 BETTS WPA: 0.330THE SCENE By the time Betts stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, this game had seen three lead changes. The Red Sox had just watched an 8-6 edge disappear after the Astros three-run rally in the top of the sixth. After Ryan Hanigan tied the score with a two-out single off Houston right-hander Scott Feldman, Betts fell behind in the count 0-2. No worries. He laid off two pitches, then lined a sinker to the gap in right-center field for a go-ahead triple.BETTS TAKE From the outside, [games like these, when the entire offense clicks] look ridiculous, but from the inside, theyre just the product of us grinding out at-bats and grinding through games. It was a tough day, man. The wind blowing, the sun there, it made it that much tougher. Fortunately, we were able to get an extra out [on Hanigans hit] and take advantage of it.3 RANGE FACTOR JUNE 24 AT TEXAS RED SOX 8, RANGERS 7 BETTS WPA: 0.329THE SCENE Good luck finding a more improbable Red Sox victory. Trailing 7-4 in the top of the ninth, the Sox got two quick outs, then proceeded to score four runs. After Sandy Leon worked an 11-pitch at-bat for an RBI double, the Rangers called on hard-throwing righty Matt Bush. Betts passed on a couple of sliders in anticipation of high heat. Sure enough, he got a belt-high 97 mph fastball and crushed it to the center-field berm. Three batters later, Dustin Pedroia scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.BETTS TAKE There are three righties behind Sandy, so I know [Bush] is coming in, and I kind of prepared for that. Seeing velocity doesnt change anything. Its all got to come across the plate at some point. Thats my mindset. In the AL East, you see it every day. A lot of times, you see it from the starter for the whole game. That ball was one of the ones I figured was going to go out. If it didnt, I would have probably cried.4 BRINGING THE RAIN AUG. 1 AT SEATTLE RED SOX 2, MARINERS 1 BETTS WPA: 0.328 THE SCENE It doesnt get much more clutch than a leadoff homer in the ninth inning of a tie game. Betts longball was off a hanging sinker from Mariners reliever Steve Cishek, all the way into the left-field bullpen. It was also one of the hardest balls Betts hit all season, with an exit velocity of 103.54 mph, according to Statcast.BETTS TAKE I was just going up there knowing [Cishek] is a tough at-bat. Any sidearm guy is going to be tough. I was just trying to get a fastball up so I could at least put it in play. I know anything down, Im going to beat into the ground, so just got something elevated and put a good swing on it.5?TWO BIRDS, THREE HOMERS MAY 31 AT BALTIMORE RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 2 BETTS WPA: 0.325THE SCENE Talk about doing it all. Betts led off the game with a homer to straightaway center field, then added a three-run shot to left in the second inning. In the seventh, just for good measure, Betts capped his first three-homer game by going to right field for a solo shot against reliever Dylan Bundy. (His diving catch to steal a hit from Paul Janish in the bottom of that inning was just a bonus.)BETTS TAKE I think I surprised myself, definitely, with the center-field and the right-field ones. [Pulling the ball to] left field is my forte. First time Ive ever done that, three home runs. I was able to make a play behind [pitcher] Robbie Ross, too, so, you know, put the whole game together. Thats why, I think, it ranks among my best games.Stats courtesy Baseball-Reference.com; through Sept. 6. Air Max Pas Cher En Ligne . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. Air Max 96 Noir et Blanche . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.airmaxpaschersite.fr/basket-air-max-tn-outlet.html . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Air Max France Pas Cher . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Air Max 200 Pas Cher Homme . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. When I was a kid, my mum coached our netball team. Shed never played, and taught herself the rules with a tattered paperback shed borrowed from the library. She only signed up because nobody else would. At first I was proud she was so committed to my sporting life that shed coach a game shed never played. But that soon changed.Some days it was the best having her around. She was funny and kind and the other girls loved her. But some days I hated how being the coachs daughter made me stand apart. Plus, her obsession with fairness meant I rarely played the position I wanted, lest it be seen as favoritism. And I could forget ever winning most valuable player.So when my daughter started a netball team and they needed a coach, I fled. The last thing I wanted was for my daughter to feel as confused as Id felt as a teenager. My feelings about all that changed quickly.My mum, whod been fighting?cancer for 18 months, died. Suddenly, my rock, someone Id relied on, was gone. That hit home when I undertook the wrenching task of sorting through her possessions and a million memories surfaced. Among them, a photograph?of her and I taken on the day we won our first netball championship back in 1982. I was 12, tall and slim with a long ponytail and a grin from ear to ear. Mum was next to me, wearing a grin equal to my own. I hadnt seen that photo for a long time. And it rocked me. It made me realize that I wasnt just grieving my mums death, I was grieving the loss of being a child.With her gone, nobody knew when my first tooth had fallen out, or how I cried after my boyfriend dumped me. That part of my history was lost. I ached for some connection to it. I hoped that maybe if I could coach like she had, some link to my past would still live.At the first few training sessions I was terrified. The kids were learning the game, I was learning how to coach, and somewhere a ghost of my mum hovered on the sidelines smiling at the whole catastrophe. When my daughter flashed a look of fury my way during a game, I realized we needed some ground rules. I agreed that fairness meant letting her play the position she liked as often as the rest of the girls, and she agreed not to think she could get away with stuff just because we were related.Coaching was something I took on for peersonal reasons, to try to be close to a mum who was no longer here.dddddddddddd I never expected to actually enjoy it. Three years in, I have discovered more about myself than I thought possible.Ive rediscovered a love of netball and now play again in an adult team. Ive uncovered a love of teaching and most weeks look forward to training nights when I can help the girls to learn new skills and strive to improve. And Ive realized that mum never coached to learn about netball, or to help us win championships. She coached to be close to me and show she cared. Even if Im not the greatest coach in the world, thats exactly why Im doing it too.Thats what I lost when she died. Not my childhood memories or a connection to my past, but someone to teach me how to be a mother. Perhaps by finding that photograph my mums parenting choices and style have found a way to live on. Just like netball gave mum and I the way to share belonging to a team, I now get to share my daughters special world. It also gives me rare insight into her friendships and closeness with her friends that I wouldnt otherwise have.They call me (affectionately, I hope) the hugger, because so often with a tween-aged team of 10 girls, there are tears. Someone is always feeling something strongly, and more often than not my role is to sit, listen and counsel. I not only coach them netball skills but also friendship skills.When mum died an old friend that I hadnt seen in many years contacted me via email. She told me how jealous shed been of my relationship with my mum when she was a teenager, because my mum was one of those involved mums who was always there, and always approachable. I think coaching did that.At the time I never noticed, but now that Im in the same boat, I see how lucky I am. Granted my daughter doesnt always like that Im her coach, but sometimes she does, and for now, those rare times are enough. Hopefully when shes grown up and Im gone, shell look back as fondly as I do and maybe coach her daughters team too.Nova Weetman lives in Melbourne, Australia. She writes childrens books and writes childrens television shows, and she loves the game of netball. ' ' '