With Okajima, all hasn't been OK of late

Oki-palooza, one of the summer's unexpected pleasures for the Red Sox, has picked an inopportune time to look like it has run its course, especially when the Yankees are involved.

Lefthanded reliever Hideki Okajima had his worst outing of the season Friday night against the Bombers, as he gave up back-to-back home runs to Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano, walked Melky Cabrera, and gave up a double to Johnny Damon, fueling the Yankees' comeback from a 7-2 deficit in the eighth inning to an 8-7 victory.

The homers were the first struck by lefthanded hitters against Okajima this season, and the four runs were the most he has allowed in any of his 64 appearances. But this is not an overnight disintegration. His performance has been eroding for some time, as hitters have made adjustments and Okajima is struggling with one of the most demanding workloads of his career.

At the All-Star break, Okajima had an 0.83 ERA in 39 appearances, and opponents were hitting .161, with just one home run in 43 1/3 innings. In 25 games since the break, he has a 4.94 ERA, and has allowed five home runs in just 23 2/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .253, with a .484 slugging percentage.

As the summer has deepened, Okajima's struggles have worsened. Starting Aug. 1, when he gave up a home run to Miguel Tejada of the Orioles, Okajima has a 7.04 ERA in 17 appearances. He has allowed 17 hits, including four home runs, and five walks in 15 1/3 innings.

No team has been tougher on Okajima than the Yankees, the one lineup - with its array of lefthanded hitters - against which Okajima is of greatest value to the Sox. He has faced the Bombers 10 times, more than any other team in the league. He faced them five times on successive weekends in April, and allowed just three hits, all singles, while striking out seven in five innings. In his last five appearances against New York, the Yankees have scored in four. The numbers: 4 2/3 IP, 9 H, 9 ER, 4 BBs, 2 Ks, 17.36 ERA.

Manager Terry Francona has refused to call Okajima's slide fatigue-related, flashing annoyance when the subject has been raised. "No one asks me if Okajima is tired after he pitches well," he said last week.

But yesterday, he acknowledged that for both of his Japanese pitchers, Okajima and Daisuke Matsuzaka, there are aspects to being in the big leagues they didn't face in Japan.

"I don't think it's just the innings," Francona said. "The travel, our schedule, is so much more difficult than they're used to. Even the translator, Masa [Hoshino], is wiped out."

Francona also acknowledged that the Yankees' familiarity with Okajima may have swung the advantage in their favor.

"Early on, when somebody's new, there's definitely an advantage, especially when it's an off-speed pitcher they haven't seen," he said. "But we play people in our division 18, 19 times. Okajima a lot of times has made seven, eight appearances against guys, and this is his first year in the big leagues. But [Friday] night he left balls over the plate. He doesn't do that. He threw balls down the middle, and he paid for it."

Telling it like it was

When Jonathan Papelbon woke up yesterday morning after blowing the game for the Red Sox against the Yankees, he hit the snooze button once. Then twice. And a third time.

Normally, the reliever would sleep in. But Papelbon made a commitment to attend a clinic with a bunch of young kids from Boston, and he kept his promise before the team's 10-1 win.

"It was tough getting up and getting out of bed," he admitted. "But I promised those kids. It's kind of funny. They were all in bed by the time I pitched [Friday night], so they started asking me all sorts of questions.

"They were saying, 'Hey, I saw we lost the game. What happened?' So I had to tell 'em, 'While you were all sleeping nice and tight in your beds, I went out and lost the game for us.' "

Papelbon said his students were wide-eyed as he relayed the gory details of his performance.

"But then I told them, 'Good teams pick each other up after a game like this,' " said Papelbon, who didn't pitch yesterday. "And that's what we ended up doing."

Ramírez still out

With Manny Ramírez still reduced to the role of spectator, Eric Hinske drew the start in left field yesterday, and you don't have to look far for an explanation. Hinske had great numbers against Wang - 10 for 22, .455 average, including three doubles in his first game for the Red Sox last Aug. 18. But Hinske was 0 for 6 against Wang this season, with four ground ball outs (including one double play) and two whiffs, both Aug. 30. Hinske doubled in the sixth yesterday, the prelude to a hellacious collision at the plate with Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. He was 2 for 4 in the game, 1 for 3 against Wang . . . Coco Crisp, who did not start Friday night because of a sore left hip he hurt while making an attempted diving catch, was back in the starting lineup and played center field.

Standing and taking it

All you Little League coaches who admonish your kids to "take your bat off your shoulder," be advised that in the third inning, the Sox took 16 consecutive pitches against Wang until Jason Varitek fouled one off. David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, and J.D. Drew all walked without offering at a pitch to load the bases, but Varitek popped to second. Varitek (0 for 5) has just two hits in his last 24 at-bats. . . . Drew, who singled home the go-ahead run, has hit safely in his last seven games, going 11 for 22 (.500) with three doubles, a home run, three RBIs, eight runs, and eight walks. He was 7 for 47 (.149) in 16 games prior to this streak.

It was the worst

The Yankees' comeback Friday night was not only nightmarish for Sox fans, it was historic. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first come-from-behind win by the Yankees at Fenway Park when trailing by five or more runs since May 7, 1955, when they rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the third inning to win, 9-6. That game was tied, 6-6, entering the ninth, when the Yanks scored three times. Friday night was by any measure a lot worse . . . The price of doing business? A Sox season ticket-holder e-mailed the Globe with the details of his transaction involving the purchase of two $45 tickets to the American League Division Series. He was assessed an additional $27 in fees. On his bill, those fees were described as "Order Processing Fees" - $6 per ticket, and $15 per order . . . Whatever happened to the phenom, Clay Buchholz, who hasn't pitched since working three innings Sept. 6 in Baltimore, 10 days ago? Francona said Buchholz has been throwing some side sessions. When will he be used again? "We don't feel that we have to tell the world," Francona said, adding that Buchholz's lack of experience as a reliever is a factor.

Jackie MacMullan of the Globe staff contributed; Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.