Gordon Edes On Hideki Okajima. And Me!!!!

I'm flabbergasted on this Sunday morning. On the floor, chest-clutching flabbergasted. Yesterday I received an email from Gordon Edes, asking me to check out the Sox notebook from today, Sunday. I linked it to the title. And that guy Peter he mentions? That's me!

So click on that title as I'm happily dumbfounded!!!!!! I still CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!!! Thank you Gordon Edes. THE DARKMAN LIVES. Where? In our bullpen, ready to go when we need him most! Here's a little from the Sunday Red Sox notebook. Mr. Edes from the Boston Globe, thank you........

Reliever's been lighting it up...

Okajima emerging from large shadow...

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff | April 22, 2007

"Daisuke Matsuzaka is the Monster. Hideki Matsui is Godzilla. And what about Hideki Okajima?
A reader (and baseball blogger) named Peter Naboicheck of Farmington, Conn., has taken to calling Okajima "Darkman," a comic-book creation played in the 1990 movie version by actor Liam Neeson. Naboicheck is riffing off Okajima's spring training utterance in which he said of pitching in Matsuzaka's shadow, "I am willing to be a hero in the dark."
The nickname may not stick, but Naboicheck may be onto something. Okajima has to rank as the revelation of the team's first month. Coming into the season, the 31-year-old lefthanded reliever's greatest value to the Sox, according to the wise guys, was to keep Matsuzaka company. He did little to disavow that notion when he gave up a home run on the first pitch he threw for the Sox, to John Buck of the Royals on Opening Day, but since then he has become an unexpected star of the bullpen.
Okajima entered yesterday's game with seven scoreless innings over his last seven appearances. He recorded his first major league save Friday night, when he challenged Alex Rodriguez with fastballs in the ninth inning and retired him with a full-count cutter that resulted in a soft liner to second.
Yesterday afternoon, with the tying runs on base in the seventh, Okajima struck out strongman Jason Giambi to end the inning, then got Robinson Cano to ground to second to begin the eighth, before being replaced by Mike Timlin."

WOW, that IS me. All I can say is I'm totally overwhelmed with happiness. Thank you Gordon, and thanks to the club closest to MY heart, and yours. The Boston Red Sox. CLICK ON THE TITLE for the entire article, one I will NEVER forget. And that's a promise! Happy healthy Sunday to every one of you. And who knows? Maybe even Hideki himself will be able to read a translated version! THE DARKMAN!