It’s happening.
Joe Kelly’s ERA is nearly under five.
One more inning, nay, two more outs and our hero’s ERA will be into the four’s, a territory where people looking at it don’t have much of an immediate opinion about a guy.
Of course, Kelly’s been better than even a 4.00-ERA guy lately. Better than a 3.00-ERA guy. But the approaching entry into a lower sphere of ERA takes ammunition away from the haters, further disarming them in their unscrupulous, uneducated attacks on greatness.
Kelly pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning last night, needing just eight pitches to hold the Padres in check. A four-pitch strikeout of Fernando Tatís Jr. A groundout to the shortstop from Manuel Margot. A grounder to first from Manny Machado. Quick, neat, and strong.
It was Kelly’s second inning in two days, and he might not have gotten fully loose, throwing so few pitches, so his lower-than-normal-but-still-really-fast velocities aren’t concerning. Instead, the takeaway from last night is, as it always should be, a whole bunch of fire emojis.
It’s a good time to be a Joe Kelly fan.
