It's been easy to criticize Hideki Okajima of late.
His ERA of 5.81, including a 2.79 WHIP in July, has been far worse than his strong marks from previous years, and it has appeared that he doesn't quite have the same stuff that he used to.
Following Sunday's collapse against the Mariners, in which he made multiple fielding errors and allowed five straight hits in the process of blowing a Red Sox lead, Okajima refused to talk to the media.
Clearly, Okajima was upset about his performance, and has had a tough year, but it's that much harder to struggle when you feel like an outsider.
Okajima told ESPN.com on Tuesday that he feels isolated in America, which causes him to spend most of his time living in his own head, obsessing over his mistakes.
"There's time to think too much, especially inside the bullpen. It's hard
to maintain a strong mentality, especially when you've been hit hard
the previous day. There's too much time to think in the bullpen. It
would be easier to maintain if there was someone who spoke the same
language and you could talk to, but that's not the reality right now," Okajima said through his interpreter.
The Japanese reliever, as is human nature, simply wishes that he had somebody to talk to regarding his struggles.
"I've been keeping that to myself the last three years, and that's what's making my life tougher this season," he explained.
Regarding his habit of avoiding the media, that too stems from cultural differences. In Japan, the media is not allowed in the clubhouse, and players can simply tell them "no comment," and that's considered okay.
The norm often instead is to talk about what happened after having a night to sleep on it. After Sunday's game, Okajima didn't want to talk to the media while he was upset.
"Mentally, I was down after the loss," he said. "I felt it was better to have some time in between to talk, not immediately."
Perhaps Okajima would be right to adjust to the realities of the American media, but some teams do allow people who speak the language of isolated players into the bullpen. If that would help Okajima on the mound, the Red Sox would be well served to change their team rule against such.
