They asked.
He delivered.
Joe Kelly turned the game around.
You could say the most crucial moment in yesterday afternoon’s Dodgers game came when Cody Bellinger tied it in the eighth on a three-run home run. You could say that. You’d be wrong, but go ahead, say it. The right answer? Let’s go to the top of the sixth.
Dansby Swanson had hit a leadoff single and was still dancing around out there after two strikeouts when Freddie Freeman hit his own single to put runners on first and second. The score was 5-2. The Dodgers could not let this get any worse. So, perhaps earlier than they intended, they turned to Joe Kelly, their third pitcher of the inning and the only one with the power to harness galaxies with a flick of his wrist.
He flicked his wrist.
Ozzie Albies went down swinging.
There was more to it than that, of course. Our guy set Albies up with two knuckle curves to make the count 1-1. He threw a 98 mph fastball, giving the people what they want. He let it get to 3-1, dropped in a curve to fill the count, allowed Albies to foul one off, and then…
Ozzie Albies went down swinging.
A flick of the wrist.
The crowd, of course, was into it. The momentum had turned. And while Albert Pujols came in to pinch hit for Kelly in the bottom half, and it wasn’t until the eighth that the Dodgers finally made their rally, it was clear from that moment on what was happening in Los Angeles.
Joe Kelly had changed the series. Joe Kelly had, once again, changed all of us.
