“I feel pleasure” ... and so do we

Hideki Okajima made a successful return to the mound Thursday night against the Twins. He looked much more like the first-half shut-down reliever that he had been in the first half than the mediocre reliever he had become as the second half dragged on through the dog days of summer.

Okajima allowed a soft one-out single to center by Michael Cuddyer, but ended his first game back after a prolonged rest period by whiffing Garrett Jones and Matthew LeCroy. LeCroy waved feebly at Okajima’s 14th and final pitch of the inning, his trademark Oki-Dokey.

“I feel pleasure to be able to get to the mound and pitch like that,” said Okajima through his interpreter, Jeff Yamaguchi. “I felt I had more energy. I’m able to throw now. Pitch by pitch, I was having a good time on the mound. I was just trying to enjoy baseball today.”

From article in Providence Journal.