This tells me that Ralph has a lot of weight on his back. Everyone depends on him which makes him stressed and not want to deal with anything. He doesn't want to be the leader. This moment foreshadow's that something is going to come up and Ralph needs to take the leader position.
Best of luck,

Answer:"We are not sending the message that every one of our players are going to wind up playing shortstop for the Mets."
Of what word? If you have more info I could answer
Lily managed to work out the sum by herself.
Answer:
raining hard = raining<u> cats and dogs</u>
walked= <u>strolled</u>
felt cold and wet = <u>could feel the rain droplets as sharp glass pieces hitting her chilled face and numb hands</u> even<u> in the biting cold</u>
worried about being late=<u>what killed her inside</u> was being late at that peculiar time.
Explanation:
It was raining hard as Maria walked down the street. She felt cold and wet and was worried about being late.
It was raining<u> cats and dogs</u> as Maria <u>strolled </u>down the street. She <u>could feel the rain droplets as sharp glass pieces hitting her chilled face and numb hands</u> even<u> in the biting cold</u> but <u>what killed her inside</u> was being late at that peculiar time.
The changed sentence has the same meaning as the original sentence but depicts more feelings of the girl both on the outside and the inside.