Editor's note: NESN.com is going to tell the story of the 2012 Red Sox in Bobby Valentine’s words. Each game day, we will select the best Valentine quote that sums up the day for the Red Sox.
A five-run deficit plagued the Red Sox before their offense even got a crack at Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda. But the strength and will of this Red Sox lineup was able to overcome the obstacle and give its pitching staff a chance to close things out.
A storybook ending it wasn't, but the resiliency shown by the Boston offense was more than enough to prove that even with all their injuries — include Dustin Pedroia among the latest victims — they are still elite.
Josh Beckett's dismal outing, allowing five runs in the first inning alone and six over five-plus innings of work, left the Sox in a terrible situation. But the combination of David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez and believe it or not Jarrod Saltalamacchia were able to bring Boston back from the depths of destruction and give their team a fighting chance.
A Daniel Nava double led things off and then the scoring spree ensued. Ryan Kalish hit a deep sacrifice to score Nava, then later in the inning Gonzalez smacked an RBI double to left followed only by Salty's three-run home run to get everything square.
Sure the spoils may have ended up on the other side, and the Sox did in fact fall back to 8 1/2 games behind the Yanks in the AL East. But the resilient effort was an encouraging sign from a recently floundering offensive unit.
Bobby Valentine was obviously unhappy with the end result, especially after leading 7-6 heading into the seventh inning. But the Red Sox manager did express a great sense of pride in his offense's performance.
"To our offense's credit, we gave up five in the first and one in the second and they had their closer in there at the end of the game," Valentine said of the impressive effort.
The comeback is something that hasn't been seen out of the Red Sox much this season. The only real comeback to speak of this season was Salty's walk-off home run against the Rays back on May 26. Aside from that, Boston has not shown any real flashes of the late-game heroics that great Red Sox teams of the past have encompassed.
So Friday night's game may have ended in defeat, but the Red Sox were able to uncover something potentially much more valuable than a single win. The unwavering dedication and motivation seen in this offense is something that few teams possess, and if they are able to continue this trend into the second half then there's plenty of games left to be won.
