<![CDATA[Deadspin: hideki okajima]]> http://tags.deadspin.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/deadspin.com.png <![CDATA[Deadspin: hideki okajima]]> http://deadspin.com/tag/hidekiokajima http://deadspin.com/tag/hidekiokajima <![CDATA[Red Sox Prefer Their Pitchers Fat]]> We received a tip about Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima's plan to run the Hawaii Marathon tomorrow. Sounded like a fun little innocent tidbit, right? That depends on who you ask.

It turns out that the Boston Red Sox powers that be did not know about their pitcher's plans and they aren't too pleased.

The Red Sox were surprised to learn that lefthanded reliever Hideki Okajima will be running in the Honolulu Marathon Sunday. One team official said the Sox were not pleased and would have discouraged him had the team been apprised of his decision. Epstein did not return an e-mail regarding Okajima yesterday.

Oops. Apparently encouraging your players to stay in shape in the off-season does not include running 26.2 miles. They'd much rather have their pitchers report to camp fat.

H/T Sox and Dawgs

]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5109368&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Ah, The Cultural Rewards Of Major League Baseball]]>
The life of a Japanese player, when assimilated into a Major League Baseball clubhouse, can be difficult. You have to learn parts of other languages, deal with cultural differences you hadn't anticipated and, mostly, deal with the odd duck that is Jonathan Papelbon.

When the Red Sox were in Detroit recently, a fan spotted Papelbon explaining the rules of craps to Hideki Okajima. The site, Out In Center Field, has a closeup of the complete board Papelbon draws out for Okajima and his translator, and even a video.

We always forget how rough life must be for a baseball player's translator. You must have to translate some seriously stupid shit.

High Rollers [Out In Center Field]

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