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.
Franklin Morales didn't make many mistakes on Friday night against the Yankees, but every one he did make was loud.
Nick Swisher had two solo home runs, Derek Jeter had one too and all told, the Yanks smashed five home runs to beat the Red Sox 6-4. It was a stark reminder that the Red Sox do have the talent to compete against the big boys in the league, but the execution isn't there, and it hasn't been for the majority of this star-crossed season.
"He got a lot of outs when they weren't hitting home runs," Bobby Valentine smartly stated of Morales' performance, the latest in a long line of almost-good performances by the Sox pitchers this season.
Valentine's comments continue a frustrating narrative that has followed the Red Sox in 2012. Every time the starting pitching struggles this season, a silver lining seems to always appear for the team to cling onto.
A hit that just finds its way over a fielder's outstretched glove. An umpire's call that doesn't go Boston's way. "Only" one or two mistakes that the other team was able to capitalize on.
It's all fine and good for teams to look on the bright side of things, but the supposed bad breaks the Red Sox keep getting pile up and at a certain point, a trend can no longer be dismissed as an aberration.
At the highest level of competition, it often plays out that the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. On the flip side of that argument, whichever team capitalizes best on the other's mistakes emerges in the end.
Good teams take advantage of the other team's miscues — a ball that is left up in the zone is crushed, a ball that finds a gap turns into an extra base, a throwing error turns into a big inning for the offense. On Friday night, the Yankees were a good team. As we've seen so many times this season, the Red Sox were not.
"I tried to throw my pitches," Morales said after the game. "When you miss that pitch with that team, somebody needs to pay and I take the blame."
Morales deserves credit for owning up to his performance, but the Yankees deserve credit too. Too often this season, the Red Sox have sat back and pointed to the oh-so-close nature of a key play or key pitch. The Yankees have no problem pointing to missed opportunities — because they seized theirs.
And that is what makes the Yankees a good team, and why the Red Sox — right now — are not.
