Red Sox lefty setup man Hideki Okajima plays 'I've Got A Secret'




By Howard Ulman, AP Sports Writer
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Hideki Okajima smiled, raised one finger to his lips
and said "secret" when asked about his new pitch.
A secret himself a year ago after 12 seasons in Japan, the Red Sox
discovered what they had as their championship season rolled along - one of the
best setup men in baseball.

"I don't think we expected the level of performance that he provided,"
Boston pitching coach John Farrell said Wednesday. "He was in an elite group of
relievers in the American League."

Even the pitch he's developing to go with his devastating split-finger
fastball is no longer a secret. It's a two-seam fastball, Farrell revealed, but
it's effectiveness remains a mystery "until he gets in games and he's able to
throw that against hitters."

The left-hander with the quirky motion that leaves him looking at the
ground when he delivers a pitch had to adjust to plenty of changes when he
joined the Red Sox before last season - food, language, new hitters and a longer
season.

Yet his "stoic" demeanor and maturity allowed him to deal with all that,
Farrell said.

This year there will be more adjustments after one of the heaviest
workloads of his 13 pro seasons left him worn out by September. He plans to
throw fewer pitches between appearances so he can "peak at the end of the
season," Okajima said Wednesday through a translator.

In his first 57 appearances last year, he allowed just eight earned runs
and had a 1.17 ERA. In his other nine outings, he gave up nine earned runs. He
was given extra rest in September for his tired arm and finished with a 2.22 ERA
and 3-2 record.

Okajima was much fresher in the playoffs, pitching 7 1-3 shutout innings
in his first five appearances. Then he struggled with three earned runs in 3 2-3
innings of the World Series, a four-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies.

The previous season, he won another title as the Nippon Ham Fighters took
the Japan Series.

Then he came to the United States, overshadowed by the hype of Boston
spending $103 million to sign another Japanese pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Okajima signed a two-year, $2.5 million deal.

In the majors, the playoffs are "very, very long," he said after throwing
indoors when thunderstorms hit the Red Sox complex the day before the official
reporting date for pitchers and catchers. "It's nothing comparable to (the)
Japanese championship league."

Okajima also had to adjust to more power-packed lineups.

"I became tough mentally because I experienced a lot of strong sluggers in
(the) major leagues," he said. "It's totally different from (the) Japanese
league, and also the number of games is different - 162 games, that's a lot of
games."

The first home-run hitter he encountered was Kansas City catcher John
Buck, who sent Okajima's first pitch in the majors over the fence in the Royals'
7-1 win on April 2.

"It was shortly after that that he did come up with a true strikeout pitch
and that is really what allowed his role to emerge," Farrell said.

Okajima's season turned around during a bullpen session on a day when the
Red Sox were rained out.

He and Farrell worked together and made a slight change in the grip on his
changeup.

"He just split his fingers a little bit more and threw more of a true
split-finger or forkball," Farrell said, "and that's the pitch that really
emerged to be his strikeout pitch."

Okajima followed the homer to Buck with 19 consecutive scoreless outings.
He even retired Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to record his first major league
save on April 20, closing because Jonathan Papelbon had pitched in the two
previous games. On April 21, Okajima retired two batters without allowing a run.

That was a very good sign, but just how good he could be remained a
secret.

"We haven't seen him enough to know how he'll take this and run with it,"
manager Terry Francona said after those games. "We're really hoping he gets more
confident."

He ran with it all the way to an All-Star game spot and a World Series
championship.

Now the Red Sox know what they have and have no plans to move Okajima from
his setup role for Papelbon.

And it's no secret to Okajima what to expect after a season of
adjustments: He knows he can be a very good pitcher in a league with some of the
best hitters in the world.

"Obviously, it is different from last year," he said, "and I feel fresh."

The Associated Press


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