It's a breeze as Red Sox sweep

It's called "Okajima, Oky-Doky," which is also the sum total of the lyrics of the song that Jeff Yamaguchi, the pitcher's translator, pumped into the clubhouse during Thursday night's interminable rain delay, the cause of yesterday's two-fer.

"The joint was jumping," said Sox manager Terry Francona, a condition that continued when the Red Sox pounded the White Sox, 11-3 and 10-1, outcomes that led White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to utter one of the more memorable loser's lines of this or any other season ("Twelve hours of my life I wasted and I'm never going to get them back.").

A Japanese music producer who has written numerous commercial jingles visited the Fens in May and was inspired to compose the Okajima song, Yamaguchi said. "The first time I heard it, I thought, 'This [is not good],' " Yamaguchi said, "but after listening to it over and over, I really liked it."

So, evidently, did Okajima's teammates, with David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis, among others, inspired to get up and dance. Call it coincidence, if you must, but both players were still in the groove as day turned into night, Ortiz whacking two home runs among his four hits and Youkilis hitting a three-run shot in Boston's first three-homer game since July 26.

"Seems like we've been here two days straight," said Ortiz, who also walked and scored twice in the last two innings of Game 1. "Nothing you can do about it. Seemed like we weren't even going to play when we got here this morning."

They not only played, but scored 10 or more runs twice in the same day for the first time in 50 years. "Got to save some for New York," said Ortiz, mindful that the Red Sox have three against the Bombers beginning Tuesday.

The Yankees had their own rain delay to contend with in Detroit, waiting four hours last night for the start of their game against the Tigers. And they didn't have "Okajima, Oky-Doky" to help make the time pass.

"You have to hear it," said Mike Lowell, who had three hits and scored twice in support of Josh Beckett's 16th win in Game 1, then doubled and walked and scored in both of Boston's big innings in the second game, a five-run fourth and four-run fifth, that made Curt Schilling's eighth win a breeze. "It's outstanding. It's unbelievable."