BOSTON — Hideki Okajima, who had been shut down by the Sox because of arm fatigue, threw a 40-pitch bullpen session yesterday afternoon and, according to pitching coach John Farrell, should be ready to pitch an inning tomorrow night against Minnesota.

Okajima, who boasted a 0.83 earned-run average at the All-Star break in exceeding expectations as the eighth-inning setup man to closer Jonathan Papelbon, had been roughed up recently.

The latest carnage was a four-run meltdown against the Yankees on Sept. 14 that helped cost Boston a game to New York. That continued a string of mostly mediocre outings. From Aug. 10 to Sept. 14, Okajima had been cuffed for 11 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings over a 13-game stretch, inflating his E.R.A. from 0.98 to 2.28.

And while Francona chided the media for saying that Okajima’s main problem was fatigue, the Sox ultimately shut him down after the Sept. 14 outing.

Yesterday marked his first bullpen work since then. Farrell was pleased with what he saw, and even used the word “fatigue” that Francona has steadfastly refused to use.

“His stuff was crisp,” said Farrell, who stood in the batter’s boxes, simulating a hitter, as Okajima went through his workout, giving him a better look at the left-hander’s stuff.

“He had no problem with his long toss or getting loose. We don’t anticipate any setbacks. There was some fatigue we dealt with like we did with some other guys [on the staff] who got breaks during the season. He had some successive appearances where it was clear he needed some down time and we were fortunate [with a lead in the division] to be able to give him the time,” said Farrell.

Brothers face off

When the Sox’ Julio Lugo stepped in to face Oakland right-hander Ruddy Lugo, it marked the first time in the majors since Sept. 6, 2002, that brothers had faced each other. Ruddy got ahead in the count, at 0-and-2, but Julio worked a walk and wound up scoring.

“It was weird. It was a good experience for me, a good experience for him and a good experience for the whole family,” said Julio, who added that his mother, sister and friends were at the game.

“You’ve got to forget it’s your brother. You want to get a hit. I’m happy I walked. We faced each other in the backyard a lot but this is the first time in a long time. It’s very special,” he said.

The last matchup of brothers was St. Louis’ Alan Benes pitching to the Cubs’ Andy Benes.

Around the bases

Coco Crisp (illness) was scratched from the starting lineup. Jacoby Ellsbury took his place in center field and in the eighth spot in the batting order . . . Papelbon is one of 10 finalists for the DHL “Delivery Man of the Year Award,” which will be determined online at MLB.com. The voting began yesterday and will run through Oct. 8. The other candidates are Francisco Cordero, Trevor Hoffman, Jason Isringhausen, J.J. Putz, Francisco Rodriguez, Bobby Jenks, Joe Nathan, Takashi Saito and Jose Valverde.

The Sox will hold a meeting after batting practice today to discuss the disbursement of playoff shares . . . Concentration tends to wander when a team is out of contention and the offseason is less than a week away. How else to explain Oakland shortstop Marco Scutaro dropping Hinske’s lazy popup in shallow left field? Hinske, whose popup dropped him to 3-for-28, was only sauntering to first on the play, or he likely could have made it to second on the miscue.

Eric Gagne did not have a crisp inning. Entrusted with a 4-1 lead in the eighth, the right-hander worked two-thirds of an inning, allowing one hit and walking one. He threw a whopping 25 pitches . . . Papelbon rescued Gagne on one pitch, retiring Mark Ellis on a popup to short. That was his only pitch of the night. When the Sox poured three runs across in the eighth, making it a 7-1 game, Francona called on Bryan Corey to finish up…The win for Schilling was the 216th of his career, moving him into a tie with Wilbur Cooper and Charlie Hough for 76th all-time . . . David Ortiz has 12 homers and 34 RBI in his last 29 games . . . Manny Delcarmen has a 1.10 ERA over his last 16 outings, totaling 16 1/3 innings . . . J.D. Drew, who went 3 for 4, is batting .383 (18 for 47) over his last 14 games, raising his average from .252 to .265.

skrasner@projo.com