Hideki Okajima News Archives

News: Lester's right quadriceps did not swell up overnight, giving hope that he can make his next scheduled start on Thursday, the Boston Herald reports.

Rather than just sign their high-priced talent to straight salaries and hope everything works out, Red Sox management has in recent years mirrored the rest of baseball in offering roster bonuses and performance incentives to their players.

With a berth in the postseason all but locked up, it might be time for the Red Sox to ease off the throttle and give a little bit of a break to the pitchers who have done so much to get them to this point.

Just like Josh Beckett never sees any reason for enthusiasm when he turns in a dominant performance and loses, he probably won't apologize for nearly equaling his career high for hits allowed and still leading the Red Sox to a 9-2 victory over the Royals on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

As many of you know, I was the Yankees beat reporter for many years until we discontinued the job in 2007.

Seems like only yesterday that anxious Red Sox fans were worried about their team's starting pitching.

Back in mid-May, Daniel Bard was just a young reliever trying to find his place in a loaded Red Sox bullpen.

Boston's Clay Buchholz limited Tampa Bay to a run and five hits in seven innings Sunday, leading a 3-1 Red Sox win in the first game of a doubleheader.

Angels win once, Red Sox win twice. Los Angeles 3, Chicago 2: Torii Hunter hit a tiebreaking home run leading off the seventh inning against Mark Buehrle, and the Angels helped their cause as the West Division leaders.

Two days after struggling in a game that was rained out, the left-hander allowed two hits in eight innings and Boston beat Tampa Bay 4-0 on Sunday for a doubleheader sweep, handing the AL champion Rays their 11th consecutive loss.

Dustin Pedroia belted a two-run homer into the visitors bullpen in the bottom of the eighth to break a 1-1 tie and give Boston a 3-1 win over Tampa Bay in the first half of a day-night doubleheader this afternoon at Fenway Park.

Still, the bottom line is that the Red Sox' relief corps is just about as good as it gets in the American League.

Ramon Ramirez wasn't trying to strike out Nick Markakis on Wednesday. It just happened that way.

News: Red Sox manager Terry Francona said the team hasn't decided what to do next with Matsuzaka , the Providence Journal reports.

Carlos Quentin homered as Chicago took three of four from the AL wild-card leaders.

The Boston Red Sox had a chance to add a game to their American League wild card lead because Baltimore actually won a game and beat Texas.

What's up with Hideki Okajima ? Last night was the second time he almost lost the game for us.

Takashi Saito? Unavailable because he slept on his neck wrong Wednesday night. Billy Wagner? Unable to pitch because he threw a bullpen session yesterday afternoon.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Red Sox manager Terry Francona didn't lie when he said the club was going to lean on Jonathan Papelbon down the stretch.

Anyone who saw Thursday night's Red Sox game at Fenway Park was probably surprised to see No.