Hideki Okajima

We all know that our offense hasn’t been much of a concern in 2009.  Bay is hitting homers left and right, Youk is back off the DL (4-8, 2 R, RBI since his return) and Papi finally ended his drought.  There are others contributing to the Red Sox offense, but I want to take a look at the guys who perform in the other half of the inning – the pitchers.

Continue reading "Sox Thoughts - Some Positives About Our Pitching"

Before I go into my “woe is me” mode for yesterday, let me just say that there was some incredible defense on both sides of the Sox-Angels game.  Although I was furious as the game concluded, I can’t say it wasn’t a fun game to watch.  Whether it was Nick Green cleanly fielding a bunted ball, or Jason Bay diving for a fly in left, the Sox made it clear (at least defensively) that they wanted to win yesterday’s ballgame.    And how about that play by JD Drew to keep the game scoreless in the 8th?  What a play. 

Continue reading "Boston, you're still my home"

d relief pitching in addition to great starting pitching.  We got some of that last night from Hideki Okajima who was lights out – 1.2 IP and no one got on base.  That was nice flashback of the Okajima we know and loved from 2007.  Ramon Ramirez (I love this guy) recorded the final out of the 8th, leaving the door open for Papelbon to come in for the 9th. 

Continue reading "Beckett, the Bullpen, and Bay make us Believe"

own:

5-(Tie) Boston Red Sox: Justin Masterson (or Manny Delcarmen), Ramon Ramirez, Takashi Saito, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon.

and Kansas City Royals: Robinson Tejeda, Ron Mahay, Juan Cruz, Kyle Farnsworth, and Joakim Soria.

Continue reading "MLB's Top Five Bullpens"

ing, the 2nd, where he allowed a man to reach 3rd, in what was at the time a slim 1-0 Red Sox lead. Hideki Okajima threw a shutout inning from the bullpen, as did Jonathan Papelbon for the save, his 40th, already a career high. Daisuke moved to 18-2 on the season, with a 2.80 ERA, as well as moving to 9-0 on the road.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/21 (2nd time's the ..."

Lost in the shuffle of Matt Cassel beating Brett Favre in the most hyped Week 2 game in years around these parts on Sunday afternoon, Jon Lester continued his march toward becoming a truly elite pitcher by outdueling a man largely respected as perhaps the best hurler in the AL, in a game the Sox needed to have. Any question marks that surrounded Lester at the All-Star break have been officially converted into exclamation points. In fact, pencil him in for Game 2 right now - it doesn't matter who we are playing or what Daisuke's record ends up being ... Lester's earned the spot right behind Beckett in the playoff rotation.

Continue reading "Q & A ... well, at least some Qs"

The Red Sox had already used Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson, Manny Delcarmen and Javy Lopez and, with Papelbon having pitched each of the last three nights and thus pretty much unavailable, had to go to Mike Timlin. Timlin has been reliable over the years, in fact this was his 1050th career appearance, tied most all time for a right hander, but this year he has had injury problems and looked lost at time with his diminishing velocity. He allowed two to reach base and eventually someone was going to drive in a run. Carlos Pena, a former Red Sox, blasted a three shot run to break the tie and give the Rays a 4-1 lead.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/11"

Manny Declarmen, Justin Masterson, and Hideki Okajima threw 4 innings giving up one run in relief, as that bullpen is looking better everyday. The Sox scored a total of 7 off of Rangers' starter Kevin Millwood and 8 in all, 4 of them coming off the bat of the recently activated Mike Lowell, who also homered in the game. In the end, it was an 8-1 victory for the Sox.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/5"

emony. 

The only truly bright spot from the past few (well, more than a few) games has been Hideki Okajima.  Very quietly and somewhat under the radar, he has pitched effective innings; even when he loaded the bases, he got out of it (that seems to be a Japanese-pitching thing to do!). 

Continue reading "EVERYONE is to blame!"

s as a reliever.

The Red Sox need help badly in a bullpen which, outside of Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima, has been shaky at best and putrid at its worst. Manny Delcarmen, who was expected to step into Mike Timlin’s role as the top right handed set up man, has been awful, especially when it comes to inherited baserunners. Opposing hitters boast a .385 batting average against with runners in scoring position when facing Delcarmen. Javier Lopez has given up 6 walks already in only 9 and 1/3 innings pitchers, 5 of those to the lefties who he is usually brought on specifically to get out. Mike Timlin is doing better after a shaky return from the disabled list but still sports and ERA of 13.50. In fact, after Papelbon and Okajima, the only other reliever with an ERA under 4.00 is David Aardsma.

Continue reading "Get Masterson in the Bullpen, Now!"

convention to an exciting baseball game.

After a scoreless inning from the other home town hero, Hideki Okajima, the stage was set for extra innings.  Lugo led off the 10th with an infield hit after the first baseman Barton couldn't scoop Hannahan's throw from third.  Pedroia sacrificed Lugo to second which set up the usual pick your poison scenario with Ortiz and Manny coming up.  The A's chose to walk Ortiz, who was 0-4, and pitched to I'm going to hit 600 home runs Manny. Down a couple of strikes, Houston threw a fastball down the wrong street and Manny blasted it off the top of the center field wall, scoring Pedroia and the off on contact Ortiz.  The Sox took a 6-4 lead.  

Continue reading "Breakfast With The Bo Sox"

lightening in a bottle over the past five years and lucked into a great set-up man.  Remember, Hideki Okajima was brought over more to help Dice-K’s move to America and he ended being one of the best set-up men in the game.  Also, if the bullpen isn’t working through half of the year, the Yankees have great arms in the minors that they could convert into relievers, much like they did with Joba last season.  Humberto Sanchez anyone?

Continue reading "Joba Rules"

ust a bit more effective than the numbers would lead you to believe.

Then, of course, there's Hideki Okajima, who was awarded Major League Baseball's "Set-Up Man of the Year" award, over the Yankee's Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Betancourt of the Indians. Originally hired to be little more than a 'pal' and cultural adjustment tool for Dice-K, he turned out to be a very important building block in the edifice of last year's championship.

Continue reading "Getting closer"