Red Sox Madness Weekend Update

Day two of our Red Sox Madness tournament saw both higher seeds, Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon advance easily to the second round. Today we move into a region dominated by pitching with #1 seed Josh Beckett leading the way against #4 Hideki Okajima and #2 seed Daisuke Matsuzaka matched up against #3 seed J.D. Drew.

Just like the World Baseball Classic, it’s USA vs. Japan. Vote away after the jump!

Can the “Oki-Doke” poke his overachieving head out again?

Okajima actually improved as 2008 progressed. His first half was solid, but the walks were way up. However, down the stretch Okajima regained his control, and was slightly better in the relief role.
The one place where skepticism arises, is that hitters have definitely adjusted accoring to Oki’s “Line Drive %.” Okajima’s “LD%” climbed up to 20% last season, where as, it was only 14% in 2007.