Oki doki

Remember a year ago at this time when Hideki Okajima could absolutely not be trusted with the ball unless the bases were empty? No one seems to be talking about that anymore -- and that's a good thing for the Red Sox.

"Who's comfortable pitching with men on base?" Terry Francona said during the first week of the season. "Who's better off starting a clean inning? We've been through that wit Oki for a couple of years -- what's better? .... That's important, learning guys' strengths and what they want to shy away from and what's in their best interests."

Francona still occasionally points out his preference for giving relievers a clean inning whenever possible rather than letting, say, the starting pitcher stay on the mound until he gets into a jam in the late innings. But now that we're 50 games into the season, it's interesting to see how Okajima and his buddies are performing when they do have to pitch with men on base:

Hideki Okajima
Bases empty (44 at-bats): .163 batting average
Runners on (29 at-bats): .207 batting average
Runners in scoring position (16 at-bats): .250 batting average
Inherited runners scored: 3 of 15

(A year ago at this time, Okajima had allowed 11 of 14 inherited runners to score -- and he was in the middle of a stretch that would see Francona refuse to use him with runners on base for more than a month.)

Manny Delcarmen
Bases empty (41 at-bats): .293
Runners on (42 at-bats): .190
Runners in scoring position (25 at-bats): .120
Inherited runners scored: 2 of 9

(Here's a weird stat: In Delcarmen's first 14 innings pitched this season, he walked eight but gave up no runs. In Delcarmen's last eight innings pitched, he's walked just one but given up three runs.)

Ramon Ramirez
Bases empty (44 at-bats): .136
Runners on (40 at-bats): .200
Runners in scoring position (23 at-bats): .174
Inherited runners scored: 2 of 15

(The lesson here is that pretty much no one has been able to touch Ramirez no matter what the situation.)

Takashi Saito
Bases empty (37 at-bats): .324
Runners on (34 at-bats): .206
Runners in scoring position (20 at-bats): .100
Inherited runners scored: 3 of 3

(With Javier Lopez and Hunter Jones gone, Saito has effectively become the bullpen's mop-up guy. Ten of his last 11 appearances have come when the Red Sox either led or trailed by three runs or more.)

Jonathan Papelbon
Bases empty (38 at-bats): .342
Runners on (46 at-bats): .130
Runners in scoring position (31 at-bats): .097
Inherited runners scored: 0 of 1

(You want to talk about a closer bearing down in big spots? Wow.)